


The Witch-Maid of House Sakamaki

by NightmareExhibition



Category: Diabolik Lovers
Genre: Alternate Canon, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Dark, Demons, Erotica, F/M, Horror, Magic, Maid, Might be AU?, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Partners, Other, Reverse Harem, Sexual Content, Smut, Some Humor, Spoilers, Vampires, Violence, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2018-10-19 02:58:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10630746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightmareExhibition/pseuds/NightmareExhibition
Summary: The Komori Yui incident was a disaster. After the Adam and Eve project went down in flames, Karlheinz withdrew from society; given that the Sakamaki brothers showed no interest in taking their father’s place as Vampire King, the bat clan was left with a dangerous power vacuum to fill. Over the past few years the brothers have constantly been approached by those who wish to exploit their lineage. “Just leave it all to me,” they’d say with false smiles and outstretched hands, “and we could rule the world.”To further ingratiate themselves to the Sakamakis, some vampires have taken to sending them “gifts” in the form of human sacrifices. One such sacrifice is Arakawa Rie, a witch with a dubious past who thinks she’s being hired as the family’s housekeeper. Will Rie escape Sakamaki house with her sanity intact? Or will she succumb to the dark desires of her captors?(Note: Yes, this story does alter the characters’ personalities somewhat from the games and anime. I thought it would be a lot more fun if the brothers weren't objectively abusive and terrible people. Also includes some Easter eggs for fans of the game!)





	1. Story Notes!

Welcome to the Notes Page!

This is where I'll post answers to questions, world-building details, etc. Kind of cheating I know, but sometimes with a work that's staying close to cannon in places and diverging wildly in others, it can be hard to get a grip on which details have been changed and which haven't.  
This page will be updated as the story progresses, so be sure to check back every once in a while.  
Also don't be afraid to hit me up in the comments section. All feedback is appreciated!

GENERAL INFO:  
This story is a sexually explicit re-working of the Diabolik Lovers storyline. When looking over other works in the fandom on various sites, I noticed that generally a lot of people's comments asked for a) genuine romance and/or b) more explicitly physical intimacy. So.... here's my attempt to give the people what they want ;-)

NOTES:  
15 April, '17: Some of my test readers have noted that I sometimes describe the vampire characters' heartbeats. In the anime, Yui becomes concerned for Ayato’s safety in episode 1 because she notes that he has no heartbeat. However, Cordelia’s heart is still capable of pumping blood through Yui’s body. So for the sake of argument let's say that, in my universe at least, full blooded vampires’ hearts do normally beat, as do the hearts of those who were initially human; however while in deep sleep their hearts can occasionally slow to the point of their pulse being almost imperceptible, with the vampire experiencing no ill effects upon waking.

19 September '18: If anyone is interested in where I got my translations for the original games, credit goes to [this blog.](https://yumemirusekai.wordpress.com/tag/haunted-dark-bridal/)

 

READER QUESTIONS: [from both Ao3 and IRL readers]

Q: Why did you use an original character instead of Yui?  
A: Well, for starters it gave me a little more narrative freedom. Yui's relationship to the plot is heavily dependent on the whole thing with Cordelia, and I wanted to keep that while giving the story somewhere else to go. Also, Yui has a very clear personality (when it comes to her reactions, anyway) and I wanted to experiment with an MC with a little more fire. There were other reasons, too, but these were the most prevalent.

 Q: Yui's alive? You can't just tell us she's alive and then never address it!  
A: Slow your roll. I'm getting there, I swear. And while she will be _mentioned_ soon (I think ch. 11 is a good bet), she's not exactly a main character anymore. I'll say this much: who are the only other group of characters from the Diabolik Lovers series who were turned into vampires by Karlheinz? If (and that's a big if) they're ever written in, Yui may also get a cameo somewhere down the line. But otherwise? I'm taking the story in a different direction, and she's honestly not very consequential right now. _HOWEVER,_ if you do like the idea of having her play a larger role in the story, leave me a suggestion and I'll see what I can do with it.

ALSO: If you have any suggestions for future chapters -- steamy or otherwise ;-) -- be sure to leave them in the comments below! I plan about 5 chapters ahead at a time, but nothing's set in stone until it's posted so anything can happen, really.

 

**Now, on with the show!**


	2. Prologue: This Mortal Coil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Subaru bears witness to a tragic scene...

Prologue

Subaru slammed his fist into the gate’s buzzer for a fourth time.

_Curse these wards…_

Teleportation was restricted on castle grounds for security reasons, but today he had neither the time nor the patience for such practices.

_I have to know if it’s true._

Just as he was fixing to hit the buzzer again, a steward finally took notice of him and hurried over to the gate. The steward paused when he saw Subaru’s face.

“Lord Subaru!” he said, a pained expression settling over his face, “I… I’m so sorry…”

“Just open the damn gate, will you!” yelled Subaru.

“Right, of course,” the steward said, fumbling with his keys, “forgive me, my Lord.”

Subaru practically ran through the main doors, sprinting past staff and security through the grand halls towards the east wing. He took the stairs two at a time up the long tower to his mother’s room; rounding the corner, he could see the doors to her chambers had been thrown open, and dark red blood stained the walls and floor to either side.

_No no no no no…_

 As he tried to approach the room, a hand gripped his arm. He wheeled on his assailant and discovered that he bore a familiar face.

“Reiji, what are you doing here?”

His elder brother was standing between him and his mother’s room. For a vampire who normally valued neatness and propriety above all else, Reiji’s appearance was decidedly unkempt; his vest was unbuttoned, his hair was disheveled, and his sleeves were pushed up to his elbows.

“I was… I was here,” said Reiji, his speech abnormally halting and ineloquent. “When it happened.”

It took Subaru a minute for the words to register in his mind.

“Let me see her,” he growled, yanking his arm away from Reiji’s grasp.

“Subaru you shouldn’t—”

“LET ME THROUGH!” he said, shoving his brother aside as he rushed towards the door. But as soon as he passed the threshold, Subaru stopped dead in his tracks.

On the bed in the center of the room lay Christa, Subaru’s mother, motionless in a pool of blood that dripped like clockwork onto the floor. Drip, drip, drip -- all stemming from a series of deep gashes above her breast. It was apparent that she had been stabbed repeatedly. Her soft white hair, once gently tinged with the pale pink of spring roses, was soaked and stained with shades of deepest crimson. It was the first time in Subaru’s life that the sight of blood made him sick.

“So it’s true…”

He walked unsteadily to her side, barely breathing, and wiped a few drops of blood off her cheek with the gentlest of touches. Christa’s skin had always been as pale as alabaster, and now, he thought bitterly, it was just as cold.

And her eyes…. those eyes that he had grown to love and hate in equal measure – eyes could look on him with pride in one moment and with aberration the next – those fickle, inconstant crimson eyes, so much in shape and bearing like his own…his mother’s eyes now stared off blankly, milky and desolate, and looked on nothing at all.

“Who did this to you?” he said softly. Then at the corner of his vision Subaru noticed something metal was glinting out from beneath the blood-soaked bed skirt. He bent, and wrapped his hand around the wretched thing that had torn his mother’s heart to shreds.

Subaru’s hands began to shake as he stared at the knife, sticky with his mother’s congealing blood.

_His_ knife.

“I don’t understand… I gave… I gave this to Yui…”

“It was Cordelia,” said Reiji from the doorway, his tone bitter and cold.

Subaru looked back at his brother in shock.

“But that’s impossible. She’s dead...isn't she?”

“Not exactly," Reiji began, not quite willing to meet the younger vampire's gaze, "Richter implanted Cordelia’s heart in Yui’s body while she was a child. Cordelia...has been controlling her for weeks.”

Subaru stared at Reiji as the seeds of fury began to take root in the pit of his stomach.

“And you… you knew about this?”

“Subaru, I –”

“ _How could you let this happen?!”_ he cried, grasping Reiji by the collar and slamming him against the wall.

“This was not your brother’s doing, Subaru,” said a voice from the far side of the room. Subaru turned, and his whole body tensed as he saw the figure of Karlheinz sitting against the wall, concealed in shadow.

“You…?” said Subaru, releasing his grip on Reiji. Subaru instinctively took a step back as Karlheinz began to rise to his feet. Something seemed off about him, though he couldn’t quite identify what.

“She came here for me. To kill me,” Karlheinz said dryly, “I was not here when they arrived. And when I returned…”

“So it’s your fault,” said Subaru, suddenly growing very, very still.

“I suppose,” he said.

“You bastard!” Subaru suddenly shrieked, flying at Karlheinz in a rage and plunging the knife deep in his chest.

The Vampire King did not so much as flinch. Reiji paled as he realized the gravity of what had just transpired. Subaru’s knife was half buried in their father’s heart, and yet this seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the king’s disposition. Instead he stared straight at Subaru, unblinking, immovable.

“You… you’re the reason she’s dead,” said Subaru, his whole body trembling in agonized rage, “You’re the only person she ever really cared about, and you gave her _nothing_ in return. Instead you seal her away in this tower… for what?” he laughed cynically, pressing the knife deeper and deeper into Karlheinz as he spoke, “To be your plaything for the rest of her miserable life?”

“Subaru…” said Reiji nervously. The situation was getting out of hand, fast.

“Why? _Why did she have to be here?”_

“Because I loved her,” said Karlheinz.

“Liar!”

“I have no reason lie about that.”

“Shut up! If you loved her, this never would have happened. None of this…”

The strength went from Subaru’s body, and his hand slipped from the knife as he sank to the floor, his breathing ragged as he tried to keep from sobbing.

“She went mad over you…. she… she couldn’t even….”

Reiji was certain their father would maim Subaru horribly for his impudence. Nothing would keep the king from exacting his punishments…

Except now Karlheinz was kneeling down to Subaru, who flinched as the elder vampire tentatively placed a hand on his back. And then Subaru began to cry, deep wracking sobs, as Reiji looked on with an odd feeling in his chest. He had no attachment to his own mother, and in fact had himself been the one to orchestrate her death. But the sheer volume of grief that the same loss could impart to Subaru… it was disturbing, distressing, and Reiji found himself suddenly wondering if there was some sort of potion he could brew to make the crying stop.

After a few long moments Subaru composed himself, and looked up at the man kneeling over him. It was finally apparent why he’d thought Karlheinz had looked so strange earlier: his face was sunken, his pretty features stiff with pain, and the vampire looked unnaturally fragile. For the paragon of a race not known for showing their age, Karlheinz suddenly looked very, very old.

A few moments more, and the pair stood; Karlheinz's gaze fixed on his son, Subaru's on the floor.

“You should rest before returning home,” said Karlheinz, “Do you remember the way to the visitors’ quarters?”

Subaru nodded, and headed for the door. He looked at his mother’s face one last time, then slipped past Reiji and into the hallway.

Karlheinz watched Subaru leave, then wrapped his hand around the knife’s hilt and pulled it slowly from his chest. For a long moment he stared at the bloody instrument, his expression inscrutable.

“Reiji,” he said sharply.

“Yes, sir?” Reiji said, stiff-spined in terror.

“You brought her here… to be my undoing?”

“Yes sir,” he repeated, trying his best to stay composed despite the furious pounding of his heart and his every instinct screaming at him to flee the room as fast as he was able.

“You will follow me,” Karlheinz said in a tone that brooked no objections. And with that, he swept out of the room.

Reiji followed, in no way certain that he was being led to anything other than his death.


	3. Prologue, part 2

Karlheinz led Reiji to a room at the opposite end of the hallway; its doors were laid over with rows on magic seals that slithered across the dark wood like iridescent serpents. The Vampire King held up a hand, and the seals dissipated with a hiss and a lingering scent of ozone.

Inside the room, Yui Komori was chained to the wall. Her golden curls were soaked in blood and sweat, and the pale blue of her undergarments were showing out from beneath the long tears in her nearly shredded blouse and skirt.

When she saw the two of them enter she smiled, a twisted smile that perfectly mirrored the deranged look in her eyes.

“Did the pretty wench die yet?” said Yui with a voice that was not her own.

“Cordelia,” said Karlheinz, the word a curse on his lips, “You are well aware that she has.”

“Oh don’t be like that,” said Cordelia, “You know I was only making conversation.”

“I have no interest in idle chatter.”

“And yet here we are.”

In three steps he had crossed the room and grasped her by the neck. She gasped and shuddered, but the mocking smile still remained.

“Are you satisfied?” he said, his voice low and grating.

“H…hardly…”

“ _Did her death satisfy you?”_

 “Y…y…” Yui’s body jerked and spasmed as her lungs fought for air.

Karlheinz released the pressure on her neck slightly, and she coughed violently and spit blood before responding.

“You should know that this was never about me.”

“What nonsense are you speaking?” he growled.

“Don’t you understand yet? Everything I’ve done, it’s all been because of my love for you!”

“You expect me to believe that you killed her… aimed to kill me… out of _love?”_

Cordelia blinked, looking honestly taken aback.

“But of course I did! The only way to truly show your love for someone is by _destroying_ them, body and soul! And I will destroy you, my dear Karlheinz. My love is the only love you need, the _only_ love worthy of you! Not children, not those other pathetic excuses for wives, _none of them_ deserve to love or be loved by someone of your greatness.”

“I don’t want your love, you filthy harpy.”

A mad humor filled Cordelia’s shimmering green eyes, and she lurched towards him with a crazed grin.

“And that’s _your_ mistake. If you’d just given your love to me from the start, I wouldn’t have had to do any of this!”

“I could never love a creature like you.”

“But you could love a thing like _her?_ Oh please. Poor little coz, so sweet and _fragile,_ like a little spin sugar rose, all pink and _perfect._ She could never give you what you _really_ want, never satisfy you like I could.” Then she laughed, the sound shrill and raucous.

 “If only you hadn’t cared about her in the first place, maybe your darling Christa would still be ali—”

Without warning Karlheinz bit the fingers of his left hand and shoved them down her throat. Cordelia thrashed inside Yui’s body, choking and jerking sporadically, trying to scream or bite but still ultimately powerless before the silver chains and Karlheinz’s overwhelming strength.

“Don’t… _ever…_ say her name.”

Then he plunged his right hand _into Yui’s chest_ , and Reiji’s eyes watched as black sparks jutted out of Karlheinz’s body at every angle and dark cracks begin to form in Yui’s small form. Then he twisted his hand and removed Cordelia’s heart whole.

He pulled his hand from her throat with a sickening squelch and held the heart aloft as the surrounding sparks multiplied and combined into long chains like lightening, the visual manifestation of his hellish power.

“Christa…” he whispered, and the black lightening coalesced around Cordelia’s heart, reducing it to ashes which fell like sand through his long fingers before disappearing into the void.

Reiji felt his own heart seize at the sight. In all his life, Reiji had only once before seen his father do something even remotely like this, but even so… back then…

_Back then he wasn’t looking for revenge._

Karlheinz wiped the ash and blood from his hands with a handkerchief, then incinerated the cloth with a flick of his wrist.

“The girl will live. She is one of us now; my blood has seen to that. And as for you...”

Reiji bent his head, his hands balling into fists at his sides as he prepared for what was coming to him. He should have known that woman would lead him to ruin, but at the time it had seemed as though exploiting her strength as a First Blood was the only way he’d ever be able to challenge his father successfully. But now it was painfully obvious that he had never been in control of anything, that he had fallen under her spell just like his uncle and countless unknown others before him. And now, now he would pay for his arrogance.

Suddenly felt a hand on his head, and he looked up at Karlheinz in surprise. The man was just… ruffling his hair, regarding him with a troubled expression. It was the first time, Reiji thought, that their father had ever looked honestly… conflicted.

“I’m trusting you to take care of them,” he said softly.

“I don’t understand…” Reiji said, wide-eyed.

“You will,” he said, a small smile tugging at the edges of his mouth. And suddenly Reiji was five years old, looking up at his father as he smiled serenely at them in the garden. Back when things were different.

And then he was gone, vanished in the space of a breath.


	4. A Maid Arrives at House Sakamaki? (Part 1)

The air smelled like charcoal and spring onions as I sat in the back of the taxi, music blaring through my headphones as I watched the night scenery flick by out the opposite window. I was in desperate need of rest after my red eye from Seoul; yet sleep continued to elude me. Instead I watched the wires, stretched out between telephone poles like leather cord across a loom. If I squinted, I could almost make out the weaver's shadowy fingers as she pulls her shuttle through the warp, lifting and dropping the strands in carefully succession as she composes a symphony of silk....

I blinked my eyes rapidly to clear the image from my head. I _really_ needed sleep. Ah well. That would have to wait.

The number of houses we passed was rapidly dwindling; soon all that was left was fields, miles of fields, as far as the eye could see. Evening had seeped in through the corners of the day, and the shadows were stretched and thin in the distance. Not long after the other dwellings fell away, the image of a tall house begins to take shape, darker than the night sky on the horizon. The taxi driver half-turned to me.

“You sure you want to go there, miss?”

“I’m sure.”

“It’s just, that place…”

“Is there something wrong with it?”

I was genuinely interested in what he had to say, but he didn’t seem to take it that way.

“Nothing,” he said, turning back towards the road. I didn’t hear another word out of him for the rest of the trip.

I looked at the name on the address card the agency had given me. “ _Shu Sakamaki, et al.”_ I’d never worked as a housekeeper before, but given that my previous employer had found me “morally objectionable” (as he noted in my letter of termination), I was in no position to refuse anything the temp agency managed to scrounge up for me.

I paid the cabbie and shouldered my single piece of luggage, cursing myself under my breath for having packed so much. It took me about ten years to walk up the drive, which is to say it took me about 10 minutes and made me felt significantly older afterwards. I had just placed my hand on one of the large door knockers – apparently rich people have a thing against doorbells – when without so much as the squeak of a hinge the door swung open of its own accord.

_And that’s not creepy at ALL…._

“Hello?” I offered, but only the silence greeted me. I looked over my shoulder, back at the road where the cabbie was already driving off to his next appointment.

_Nowhere to go but forward._

I walked carefully past the threshold, shoving the door shut behind me. Well, _mostly_ shut; the heavy slab of wood had managed to get itself stuck on who knows what while it was still about 4 inches away from the frame, and after a while I gave up on ever getting the damned thing to close properly. What were they going to do, stick me with the electric bill? Given the temperature of the place, it was a distinct possibility that no one in the house had ever so much as heard the words “central heating.” I pulled my sweater tighter around my shoulders as I looked about, attempting to get my bearings. In the foyer was the largest staircase I’d ever seen, dark wood contrasting with the deep crimson stair runner that extended all the way to the entrance. The rest of the floor was some sort of dark stone that sucked all the warmth out of the air near my ankles. Even in the dim I could tell how utterly _fine_ the house and its furnishings were; as I walked around the giant foyer, everything I passed looked like it had come straight out of a museum. _And they’ve hired_ me _to take care of all this?!_

As I wandered over to the right side of the room, the sound of muffled voices wafted in from farther down the corridor. I peered into the gloom; at the far end of the hall a light flickering on and off, reflected in the dim window.

“Anyone there?” Still no response.

I followed the hall, which emptied into a large sitting room which, for all its rich furnishings, seemed far too expansive to be comfortable. Ornate chairs and couches were placed around the room, and at one end another set of stairs led up to the second floor balcony.

In the center of the room a young man was draped over one of the couches in front of a television playing some old black-and-white movie. Pale light danced over his sleeping form, casting the features of his face into sharp relief against the brightest red hair I’d ever seen. He appeared to be wearing a school uniform from Ryoutei Academy, one of the most exclusive collection of schools in the region – though his shirt was mostly unbuttoned and his tie was draped around his neck like a scarf. Also, one of his pant legs was rolled up to just below the knee while the other was not.

_Well that’s certainly… one interpretation of that uniform._

I wondered if I should wake him. He did seem to be the only person around, though waking someone up after waltzing into their home unannounced wasn’t exactly my idea of a good first impression…

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” I jumped. A very well-dressed man had come up silently behind me. He had dark purple hair that ended just above his shoulders, and dark crimson eyes that were narrowed at me suspiciously behind neat wire-framed glasses.

“My name is… Rie Arakawa. I’m… your new housekeeper?” I said uncertainly. Then I remembered the name on the paper.

“Oh! Are you Shu Sakamaki?”

The well-dressed man’s face screwed up in disgust, red eyes flashing behind his spectacles.

“Of all the vile accusations… Do not speak that deadbeat’s name in my presence, let alone attempt to sully _me_ with it!” he spat.

_I think I might have hit a nerve…_

Suddenly the guy on the couch groaned.

“Reiji, what the fuck’s all the racket about?” he said, sitting up slowly.

The well-dressed man – or Reiji, I suppose – scoffed at him.

“This does not concern you, Ayato. Please resume sleeping.”

“Don’t wanna,” he said with a wide yawn. His teeth looked…. odd. Then he saw me. “Who’s the chick?”

“This is Rie Arakawa. Apparently some grave misunderstanding has landed her on our doorstep.”

“Oh is _that_ it?” he said, then grinned wickedly and looked me dead in the eyes as if we were sharing some secret understanding. Then he glanced at the well-dressed man with raised eyebrows, causing the other – who the redhead had called Reiji– to scoff once again and glare in my direction.

_Did I miss something here…?_

“Well…,” I said, trying to ignore whatever it was I was being left out of, “can either of you tell me where Mr. Shu Sakamaki is? He’s the one who hired me.”

The red-haired one – Ayato, was it? – laughed out loud.

“Shu _hired someone?_ ” he said, “That’s a first.”

The wll-dressed one’s jaw tensed. He was looking increasingly annoyed by the second, and I was suddenly seized by the fear that he might have me arrested for trespassing.

“There is no way that creature was involved in purchasing your…” he looked me up and down, “ _services.”_

_The hell… does he think I’m a prostitute?!_

“My name is _Reiji_ Sakamaki,” he said, “and seeing as _I_ am the one who manages this household’s finances, if a contract was taken out in our name, it is inconceivable that I would have no knowledge of it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit long, so it's been posted in two pieces.  
> Well? What are you waiting for?? Click over to the next page!


	5. A Maid Arrives at House Sakamaki? (Part 2)

Ah hell. I should have known this gig was too good to be true. Room and board with three squares a day, for a _housekeeper?_ Yeah right. In all likelihood, someone had phoned the agency as a prank.

“Well,” I said with a sigh, “if that’s the case, it seems I was sent here by mistake.” I readjusted my bag on my shoulder and turned to leave. I’ll get out of your way—”

“O-ho-ho, what do we have _here?_ ” said a voice from the other side of the room. I turned to see another red haired young man in a school uniform leaned against the railing of the staircase, a fedora set on his head at a jaunty angle. His brilliant green eyes looked me up and down suggestively, then settled on my chest.

 _Ugh, and now there’s_ this _pervert…_

“Hi…?” I said, trying not to seem overtly grossed out.

“Hello to you too, sweetie,” the newcomer said, walking over to me and standing quite a bit closer than was strictly necessary. If Reiji had seemed a little too formal, then this guy was taking things way too far in the opposite direction.

“I’m, ah, Rie Arakawa. And you are…?”

“I’m Laito,” he said with a swooping bow, “it is my _deepest_ pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He took my outstretched hand and made like he would kiss it, but at the last moment turned my hand over and kissed my wrist instead.

 _That’s certainly…. unique._ I tried to smile at him, and he winked, which made me feel decidedly exposed.

“You do not need concern yourself with this,” Reiji said hotly.

“Oh, but I _like_ guests,” said Laito, “Much more than you do, anyway.”

“What’s all this racket about, eh?!” A rather loud young man with pale pink hair stormed in from the direction of the entryway.

“Uh, hello…” I said.

“Something smells yummy…” said a lilting voice near my ear.

“Eek!” I yelped, whirling around and nearly smacking into the lavender haired boy who had come up next to me, silent as a ghost. In his arms he carried a large teddy bear with an eye patch, and he was looking at me with an… unsettling expression. I could only guess at what he meant by “yummy,” but none of those options sounded pleasant.

“The swarm has arrived…” Reiji said, fingers pressed to the bridge of his nose as if fighting off a headache.

It was a fair comparison. A moment ago there had only been two other people in the room besides myself; now that count was more than doubled.

“What did you expect?” Ayato said with an unsettlingly dark chuckle.

“Did you think we wouldn’t notice?” A blonde-haired man spoke from the couch at the far end of the room. I could have sworn he wasn’t there when I walked in.

_Make that triple…_

“ _You do not need to be here,”_ Reiji snapped, staring daggers at the blonde, though it probably didn’t have much of an effect seeing as the other man’s eyes were closed.

“No reason not to be,” the blonde said monotonously.

“Will somebody tell me what this _person_ is doing here?” said the loud pink-haired one, pointing at me. I shrank a little. He looked _pissed._

 _“_ No need to be _rude_ to the lass,” said Laito, placing a hand on my shoulder and increasing the ‘ick’ factor by about a thousand.

“Do you like dolls, miss?” said the young one, his head tilted quizzically.

“I guess so,” I said. I was about to chalk the question up to youthful curiosity… then I caught a glance at his feet and realized he wasn’t wearing shoes.

  _If I took my heels off he’d probably be taller than me…is he really a kid??_ This observation only raised more questions than it answered.

 “If there’s been some kind of mistake…” I began. This was getting weird, fast.

“There’s a letter.”

A hush fell over the room at the blonde’s words. Reiji was the first to speak.

“I was not informed of any –”

“It was addressed to me.” The man produced a crumpled envelope from his pocket and held it up. Reiji strode over to the couch and yanked it from his grasp. He read through it quickly, eyes tracking across the page at a steady clip. Then he looked at me.

“It seems your ‘service’ has been gifted to us.”

“Gifted?”

“And what a _lovely_ gift you are…” said Laito as he _tried to lick my ear._ I flinched away from him, shuddering.

“Look, I—I don’t really think this is the best work environment for me… If it’s a housekeeper you need—”

“We are not looking for a housekeeper,” said Reiji, “Nonetheless… it would be the height of impropriety to refuse such a gift outright.”

_What’s with this vibe…?_

“I… appreciate the thought… but I really think I should be going—”

“You misunderstand. You won’t be leaving here at all.”

A chill settled into my bones, creeping outward from the pit of my stomach and invading every inch of my being. The feeling was… _familiar._

“May I… see the letter?” I said.

A cruel smile played on Reiji’s lips. “But of course…” he said, passing the letter to me.

It read:

> _My Honourable Lord Shu of the Great and Noble House Sakamaki:_
> 
> _It is with greatest pleasure and humility that I should endeavor to correspond with Your Excellence…_

_What is this drivel?_ The letter was florid and horribly overwritten, with far too many honorifics and ham-handed compliments. I skipped over the more platitudinous parts, searching for something resembling an explanation, untill...

> _….As it is the will of every loyal Vampire to honour you and serve at your feet…_

The chill in my bones deepened, and I was suddenly very aware of the six pairs of eyes that stared at me from every direction. Six pairs of _hungry_ eyes. I read on:

> _…. a token of my continued support of your endeavors, please allow me to present you with a Gift of Sacrifice…_
> 
> _…may she feed your right honourable Selfe with her lowly mortal blood for years to come._
> 
> _Yours in magnanimity,_
> 
> _Earl Greyson Umbridge._

I lowered the letter. My hands were trembling; the pages rattled in my grasp as the eyes around me burned crimson.

“Now do you understand?" said Reiji, "You belong to us.”

Then I laughed.

No one else moved. Ayato looked startled, and the blond opened his eyes for the first time since appearing on the couch. And the looks on their faces…It was just _too much._ Pretty soon I was choking on my own laughter, having trouble breathing, as the men – no, the _vampires –_ looked at me like I’d just lost my mind. _They._ Looked at _me._

The pink-haired one got over it first.

“What’s so fucking funny, huh??” he yelled.

But that infuriated expression of his only made me laugh harder. Even as the taste of bile was creeping up my throat, I tried through convulsive laughter to explain:

“It’s just… so ironic and… and if irony could kill… but _I’m already dead,_ right?!”

Tears were streaming down my face now, the letter crumpled and forgotten in my hand as I hugged myself, doubled over, trembling and laughing myself sick.

“See that Teddy?” said the short one to his bear, “That’s what humans do when they get too broken…”

“ _Wanna take a picture?”_ I sneered, causing him to clutch his Teddy protectively. For some reason in that moment his voyeurism pissed me off more than anything else.

“Tch,” Reiji said, clicking his tongue in disapproval, “how undignified. _Compose yourself_ or I will see you flogged.”

I straightened up abruptly, every inch of my body trembling. Out of habit I tried to neaten the edges of my shirt, but the shaking in my hands made this practically impossible.

“Sorry,” I said, still giggling as I wiped my eyes, “Let me try this again.”

I bowed. “My name is Rie Arakawa. I’ll be working for you from now on…until the day I die.”

“Now, is there somewhere can put my things?”


	6. Wagers and Wake-Up Calls

I felt better after sleeping. Well, when I say _better…_ I didn’t feel like laughing until I was sick to my stomach anymore. After my momentary inability to act rationally, someone thought to call a servant to show me to a room where I could sleep off the shock. The servant didn’t say a word to me, but he seemed like a pretty normal person if you discount the fact of him being a little on the translucent side. Maybe I should have been more concerned about being trapped in a house with both vampires _and_ the dearly departed, but after the events of last night spectral house staff seemed pretty much par for the course.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands. I still had the ghost of the headache I’d given myself yesterday; apparently having a mental break isn’t too kind to your sinuses. Looking back, it was most likely the combination of exhaustion and adrenaline that turned my initial panic into literal hysterics, but now all that was left of my initial shock was a sour taste in my mouth and a hell of a lot of bitterness. Fate had delivered me the great cosmic slap in the face that is dramatic irony, which in its own fucked up sort of way was pretty damn amusing. Or would be, if I didn’t have to live with the consequences.

_Vampires…_

A sudden flash of panic brought my hand up to the side of my neck; but there was nothing there, no cuts or scabs or unusually fresh scars, and so with a sigh my heart began to settle into its usual rhythm. I’d read somewhere that vampire _bats_ will feed at night on sleeping victims, their saliva containing both numbing an anti-clotting agents that allow them to drink their fill and vanish into the night undetected. I can’t say the concept of being a human blood bag was very appealing to begin with, but the idea of the feedings happening while I was completely unaware seemed a hell of a lot worse somehow.

 I’d be lying if I said that some small part of me hadn’t wondered if I’d brought this upon myself, if I wasn’t always meant to end up as someone’s slave and my narrow escape four years ago was nothing more than a delaying of the inevitable. I hoped someone out there in the aether was getting a kick out of all this; it’s the great curse of the living that we can’t see the plot twists coming until they’re already upon us….

“Feeling better, my little slut?”

I yelped as Laito appeared on the edge of the bed. I was _sure_ I hadn’t heard him enter, and I was about to press him to explain that accomplishment when I realized there was a far more important question that needed to be answered.

 “ _What did you just call me??”_ I said.

Laito leaned closer to me, a devilish glint in his eye.

“Well,” he said, looking me up and down, “that’s what you are, isn’t it?”

Even though I was dressed – I’d fallen asleep fully clothed – I reflexively drew the cream-colored doublet up over my chest.

“Last time I checked I was a housekeeper…” I said.

Laito smirked and did that _thing_ with his eyes where he looked me over as if someone had just turned up the music in the strip joint and I was the main event.

“As if that makes any difference when it comes to—”

Just then the door flew open, and Ayato stormed in from the hall, looking rather… _salty._

“Laito you filthy cheater! I found the aces you hid!”

“Woops, my bad,” said Laito, smirking over his shoulder at him, “I shouldn’t have left them laying around where just _anyone_ could find them…”

“That’s not the fucking point and you know it!” Ayato said, grabbing him by the collar.

“Don’t take everything so _seriously,_ Ayato,” Laito said, slipping underneath Ayato’s arms and causing the brash vampire to fall head-first onto the bed.

“Uh… did you two play a game or something?” I asked, scooting back farther against the headboard to avoid the scuffle.

 “ _Yes_ ,” said Ayato, picking himself up off the bed and pointing in Laito’s direction, “and he _cheated_ which means I win by default.”

“ _Since when?”_ said Laito.

_“_ Since always! Now get your dirty hands away from Yours Truly’s property!”

“Technically she’s _Shu’s_ property, but since he can’t be bothered…”

As the pair continued their bickering I had a mind point out that no, I was _not_ anyone’s property, thank-you-very-much. But the fact was, I’d been bought. Bought and _gifted._ So as much as I’d have liked to tell them off, that particular point really didn’t hold water…

“Well?” Ayato said, turning to me.

“Well… what?” I asked. I had been so preoccupied that I’d lost track of what they were arguing about.

“Well, which of us should have the right to taste you first?”                                                                                                                     

_What the fuck – what the FUCK—_

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” Well-reasoned arguments be damned, I was _not_ about to let these two get away with… with…. _whatever creepy shit_ they were doing.

“ _Obviously_ it should be me,” said Laito, ignoring the question completely, “Even if I did… _stack the odds_ a bit _,_ it’s Ayato’s fault for being too stupid to catch me.”

“You…” I began.

“Stupid?!” Ayato yelled, “Why you… you’re the one who cheated!”

“ _I always cheat,”_ said Laito, “Which makes you twice the fool for not challenging my win in the first place.”

“You two…” I began again.

“In what world does that make sense??” said Ayato.

“ _In every world,”_ Laito countered.

“ _YOU BET ME ON A CARD GAME?!”_ I shouted.

“That’s enough, all of you!”

The three of us turned to see Reiji scowling at us from the doorway.

 “Why do you always show up at the _worst_ possible moments?” said Laito, “Just five more minutes and we would have had this whole thing sorted…”

“Whatever doubtlessly trivial thing you’re arguing about,” Reiji said, “will have to wait; or do I need to remind you that your classes started _half an hour ago?”_

“It’s not like we really _need_ to go to school,” Ayato grumbled, “what good’s it doing us anyways?”

“Truancy reflects poorly on this entire household,” Reiji said sharply, looking down the bridge at his nose at the two vampires, “and I will _not_ allow the two of you further sully our family name.”

Laito looked like he was about to protest as well, but Reiji cut him off:

“Both of you will head to the car _immediately._ As for you…” he regarded me with the expression of someone looking at a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe, “your uniform is in the wardrobe on your right. You will change and meet me in the foyer at eight o’clock _sharp._ I will not abide tardiness.”

With one more pointed glance at the others, Reiji swept out of the room.

_I gotta admit, the guy can make an exit…_

Ayato stared out the door with a sour look, then turned back towards me. In three steps, he crossed the room and got _very_ close to my face.

“Don’t even think of running off before I get back,” he said hotly, then turned and hurried off after Reiji.

Laito hung back, hands in his pockets and looking rather pleased with himself.

“Looks like we have the room all to ourselves…”

“Laito, stop dawdling,” called Reiji’s voice from down the hall. Laito sighed irritably.

“Co-ming!” Laito said in a sing-song voice that betrayed none of the impatience written on his countenance.

“We’ll have to finish this later, little slut,” he said with a wink that made my stomach churn, “Reiji poisons our food if we don’t at least pretend to follow his rules. Not like it’ll kill me, but it makes even the best meals taste just _dreadful._ ”

“Laito!” yelled Reiji.

“I’M COMING GEEZE” he yelled back.

Suddenly he seized my hand, turning it over like he had the first time we’d met and bringing it to his lips; I yanked it back as fast as I could, but not before Laito had managed to leave a pair of holes in my skin below the base of my thumb.

“What the hell??” I said, holding my damaged wrist as blood began trickling my arm.

“Just so you won’t forget,” he said with a grin, sharp teeth glistening red in his mouth, before turning and sprinting from the room after the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How will Rie handle the results of the brothers' wager?  
> What strange tasks will Reiji ask her to perform as part of her housekeeping duties??  
> What were the events of 4 years ago that almost ended in Rie's enslavement, and how did she make it out alive???  
> Why is this author ending this chapter with questions as if she's narrating a radio drama????  
> Come back next week to find out! (Or.... whenever I get the chapters edited!)


	7. Reiji's House Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [UPDATED: Originally Posted 17 May 2017. Re-edited, cleaned and published for August 2017. Don't worry if you've already read this one, I'm posting some new stuff too. Should be ready in about... 30 minutes. I know it's hard, but can you wait for me? I promise I'll make it worth your while. ;-) ]

My “uniform” was a plain black dress that fell to my ankles, with a white apron that looked more like a costume piece than something I could clean in. I slipped the dress on over my head and looked down.

_Make that below my ankles..._

Something would have to be done about that hem to keep me from tripping on it and falling down one of those nigh-endless staircases.

There was a mirror on the inside of one of the wardrobe doors from which my tired reflection stared back at me: the bruise-dark circles under my eyes accentuated by the redness snaking across the sclera, my long black hair laying in messy tangles all over my head. I looked like someone from the ‘before’ portion of an energy drink commercial.

I ran my hand through my hair, working out the knots with my fingers, wondering if I should braid it back or pin it or do something else to get it out of the way. Experimentally I twisted my hair on top of my head with a hand.

 _Gods, I really_ do _look like a maid…_

And then I caught a glimpse of the clock in the mirror. It was four minutes before eight.

_Shit shit SHIT…._

I let my hair fall unceremoniously back onto my shoulders as I dashed out of the room, determined to make it into the foyer before my tardiness inspired Reiji to poison anything of mine.

“I’m here!” I said, dashing down the staircase. Reiji was waiting near front entrance, scowling into the face of the gilded pocket watch he held in one white-gloved hand.

 _“Stop running,_ ” Reiji said, turning his scowl in my direction, “you look like an imbecile.”

“I’m not… late… am I?” I said, leaning against a banister to catch my breath.

“Punctuality, Miss Arakawa,” said Reiji, slipping the watch into his pocket, “is meaningless without grace. Do try and remember this next time you feel like sprinting around the corridors like a rabid dog.”

“Sorry…?” I said, trying not to look as offended as I most certainly felt. He sighed irritably and rolled his eyes at me.

“We’re wasting time,” he said, and set off down the hall towards the building’s North wing.

Reiji walking pace was _ridiculous_ , and so despite his prohibition on the less ladylike modes of foot travel I was practically jogging to keep up with him. In the near silence my steps echoed through the halls in uneven syncopation, hurried shuffling punctuated by the occasional bout of frantic catching-up, nearly double-time to the mechanical _tap tap tap_ of Reiji’s wingtips on the stone floor. Reiji named every room we passed without stopping, never pausing for questions or slowing his pace in the slightest; every other time he rounded a corner I was half afraid he’d lose me altogether. Getting lost, I realized, was now a legitimate and daily concern to be added to my ever-growing list of ways my life was going to royally suck from now on.

To say the Sakamaki House was huge would be an understatement. The place was _massive._ The full tour was almost half an hour of parlors, studies, lounges, and a mind-boggling arrays of hallways that seemed to fold and twist in on themselves, all looking exactly the same but leading somewhere entirely different. I was suddenly grateful that the room I’d been assigned was only one turn away from the main staircase, otherwise I might never find my way to it on my own.

By the time we’d nearly finished the trip, I realized that my disorientation was due in part to the fact that Reiji had led us in a sort of broad, curvilinear circuit, taking _every hallway_ on a floor from one end to the other, then leading us up a staircase and through more hallways, only this time starting from the opposite end of the house. It was only when we passed the main staircase for the third time that I realized what little bits of a mental map I had managed to construct thus far would have to be _rotated…_

_No wait… only the second floor would be…_

_No that’s not right… because the staircase was on the_ left _that time…_

My brain was beginning to hurt at that point, so I stopped trying to mentally recreate the labyrinthian structure in my head and focused on taking in as many details as possible. A blue vase on a table beside one of the study doors; a set of ornate arm chairs and lounges around a fireplace in one of the common rooms; a large and brilliantly detailed mountain scene at junction of two halls that looked suspiciously like an original Hiroshige print.

But despite – or perhaps _because of –_ the dizzying expanse, there was something entirely frigid about the place that no amount of opulent furniture or grand artworks could erase. The formality and stiff, unnatural grace was just about as comforting as a hand around one’s throat, and the more lavish the scenery the more it became apparent that nothing in this house was – nor would ever be – anything close to inviting.

Whoever built this house, I doubt they were unaware of the true nature of their employers. How else could you rationalize such an oppressive design, with wood stained the color of old caskets, stone floors as cold as gravestones in winter, and a remarkable infrequency of lighting fixtures that left the rooms in an almost perpetual twilight?

Either this house was designed with vampires in mind, or else the designers took one look at Reiji Sakamaki and thought “I wonder what this guy’s personality would look like as a house?”

I laughed aloud at my private joke, and Reiji glared at me over his shoulder with poisonous suspicion. I quickly swallowed the laughter and cleared my throat.

“So, ah, where is everyone?” I said, deflecting.

“The triplets – that’s Ayato, Laito, and Kanato – attend high school during the week, as does Subaru,” Reiji said.

“At Ryoutei Academy?”

“Yes…” Reiji said, glancing at me once more over his shoulder, though this time without the venomous intensity. Was it just me, or did he seem almost surprised I’d noticed?

It seemed for a moment as if my guide was about to say something; but the only sound to be heard in that cold, cold hallway was the clicking of our shoes on the dark, polished stone.

The silence lasted just a beat too long for my comfort, and I felt the strong inclination to break it.

“So, ah...” I began, “does the school… know about the whole… _vampire_ … thing?”

Smooth, Rie. Very smooth.

“Seeing as Ryoutei’s enrollment is exclusive to our kind,” said Reiji, “the ‘vampire thing.’ as you so _obnoxiously_ put it, is a given.”

“Wha—Seriously??”

“Did I appear to be joking?” he said sharply.

“N-no…” I stammered, “that’s just…. an expression… people use…….”

I trailed off, and the silence swallowed us once more. God _damn_ it was hard to hold a conversation with this guy.

We walked the rest of the way in near silence. Finally we reached the end of the last hallway on that floor.

“And this,” Reiji said, pulling a set of small but ornate silver keys from his pocket, “is the third floor library. The room also functions as my personal study.”

He fit one of the keys into the lock and turned it, but before opening the door he wheeled around to face me.

“You are only to enter this room under my _direct_ supervision,” he said. He was standing so close I could feel his breath on my cheek. It was _cold._

“Break _anything,”_ he said, his low whisper articulated with chilling precision, _“_ and I will _personally_ see to it that you are eviscerated in the most brutal fashion conceivable by any species.”

“Got it” I said hoarsely, my throat drum-tight and acidic with the sudden all-consuming urge to _run the fuck away_.

“Good,” he said, turning away, and opened the door.

Unlike the other library I’d seen – a massive room that spanned over half the width of the North Wing and extended up from the first floor and into the second – this one was tucked into the third floor section of one of the towers, though I was still a little too disoriented to be able to determine with any certainty which one. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covered the far wall, every available space lined with books in neat, orderly rows. A grand fireplace was set into the wall to my right, on the far side of which sat a pair of large china cabinets, filled to capacity with every sort of dishware I’d ever seen and then some. The rest of the space was filled with an assortment of tables, each covered with a slightly different array of delicate lab equipment.

As I was taking in the room, Reiji had gone over to what appeared to be a small reading area in front of the china cabinets and begun sliding papers and books into a brown leather valise. I wandered over to the far bookcase, examining the titles for anything I might have read. Or I would have, had a single book been in Japanese.

_Greek… German… Is that Latin?_

I shook my head in private disbelief.

“I’m guessing you don’t want me cleaning in here,” I said.

Reiji smirked at my comment, and the muscles in my chest contracted sharply.

That grin was _dangerous._ I think I preferred him scowling.

“We do not need a housekeeper _,_ ” Reiji said, “or was not you position in this household made clear to you last night?”

My words caught in my throat, and I struggled to force them out past my near-paralyzed tongue.

“I-I… Well yes, but I… I mean I _assumed_ I’d still be –”

“The spirits bound to our family keep the rooms clean enough,” he said with a wave of his hand.

 “You will therefore be expected to facilitate our lifestyle in any way we so choose. If I ask you to assist me with the preparation of meals, you will do so. If I ask you to tend the gardens, you will do so. If I ask you to sear a hole in the wall with a Bunsen burner, _you will do so_ , without question and without fail. Initiative is _not_ appreciated. Do I make myself clear?”

“As crystal,” I said stiffly.

“I have better things to do than answer your pointless questions,” he said with a carelessness that was downright infuriating.

 _Well good for you…_ I thought bitterly.

“I trust you can find your way back to the entrance without my assistance,” he said, shouldering his bag, “or is even that beyond your meager human faculties?”

“I’ll be _fine_. Thank you,” I said. I probably _wouldn’t_ be fine, but this asshole didn’t need to know that.

“Are you going somewhere?” I asked.

“I attend classes at Ryoutei’s affiliated university four days a week,” he said.

“Does Shu go there too?” I asked, realizing Reiji hadn’t mentioned him as attending high school with the others. Reiji bristled at the name, and I kicked myself mentally for forgetting the animosity between those two.

“That _deadbeat_ has declined to further his education,” Reiji said coarsely, “He’s rarely left the manor since graduation.” The lines of Reiji’s face twitched into a disgusted sneer as he spoke.

“He’s probably off sulking uselessly somewhere in the South Wing…” he said with a vile sort of humor, “He will likely require your services every now and again, though I honestly couldn’t care less if you murdered him in his sleep.”

“Ah, okay…” I said, unsure how to properly respond to such unconcealed hostility. But there was something else about the statement that bothered me.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘services’?” I said pointedly, ready to argue til my last breath if need be. If this was another goddamn prostitution reference….

But in the next instant my indignation froze solid, knotted up in my gut as that terrifying, manic grin spread its way across Reiji face once more. He slipped his glasses off his face and into his pocket in one languid motion, and when his eyes met mine the world seemed to slow to a glacial crawl as his shining crimson irises bore into me, shredding my soul with a glance. For a while I was entirely unable to breathe, or move, or even attempt to look away from the burning pools of red before me. I heard his bag hit the floor, and finally I broke his gaze, my eyes flicking down in the direction of the sound for a moment—

But only for a moment, because the next thing I knew Reiji was backing me against the bookcase.

“Reiji…?”

“Like this…” he said in a low whisper. Then he grasped me by the shoulders and sank his fangs into my neck.

The pain was blinding, a jagged, tearing, _pulsing_ pain that ran from the freshly torn wound all the way down my arm and shot into the beds of my fingernails. It was like a slow and dreadful sort of electrocution, where every shift in pressure or slight change in the angle of the fangs that pierced my flesh sent a new wave of terrible, shivering, electric agony cascading through my limbs.

A few seconds later the shock of the attack wore off, and I managed to find the wherewithal to set my hands on his shoulders and shove the vampire away from me. But Reiji just seized me roughly by the hair, and I cried out as he shoved my head into the bookcase.

“Perhaps I was not speaking plainly enough for your feeble mortal brain to comprehend,” he said, voice thick and mocking, the hand in my hair twisting painfully as he spoke.

“Your essential function is to provide us with _blood,”_ he said, “Should you fail at this, I have no qualms about disposing of you this instant.”

His eyes flashed, that dreadful sardonic smile stretching ever wider as blood – _my_ blood – dripped slowly down his fangs and ran in rivulets over the skin of his lips.

“I have no patience for useless things.”

I began to shiver. It wasn’t from the pain. Slowly I dropped my shaking hands from his shoulders, though I did not dare to meet those terrible, entrancing eyes again.

And he laughed, low in his throat, the sound a sickly ode to despair and cloying rage, and bit into me again.

The second bite was made in painful proximity to the first, Reiji’s teeth tearing through my flesh like I was no more substantial that tissue paper. As he drank I could feel him swallow, his grip on my hair tightening every mouthful, the strength that held me against the bookcase made all the more inexorable by my anemic, mortal weakness.

Hours or minutes or maybe mere moments later – Who can say? – Reiji finished with me, licking the last few drops of blood from my neck as the bleeding finally began to slow.

 “Good girl,” Reiji said with chilling satisfaction, and finally released me.

“I will provide you a list of food stuffs suitable for maintaining your blood’s quantity and flavor,” he said, his mannerisms resuming their former propriety as Reiji replaced his glasses and wiped the blood from his lips. He checked his pocket watch and scowled.

“I must be going,” he said, retrieving his bag from the floor and placing his keyring on the low table, “Lock the door behind you when you go.”

If he was waiting for me to make a reply, I couldn’t give him one: my breath was coming in shallow rasps as the last remnant of that ancient human system of survival compelled me to be as small, still, and silent as I could possibly manage. 

I prepared for some cross, hostile reply at my silence. But all he did was smile diabolically, saying, “Do try and make yourself _useful_ from now on,” and left me there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Here's an extended chapter to make up for it. Now that summer's here I'll be able to post more regularly.  
> As always, all feedback appreciated.  
> Dark dreams,  
> Anandi  
> 


	8. Laito's Request

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay darlings, so here's the low down.  
> Remember how I said I'd have all this glorious free time this summer, to do all this writing that would make you blush and shiver in the best ways possible?  
> Well... ah.... I've kind of gotten busy.  
> Old friends, new heartbreaks, and one very unfortunate construction project aside, I've finally gotten around to finishing all those marvelous updates I promised you.  
> Well. Most of them, anyway.  
> So to make up for lost time (literally?), I'm going to be posting three new chapters over the next week (with an optional fourth if I'm feeling frisky). How's that for service, eh?  
> I'll let you interpret my meaning however you please. ;-P

I must have stared at the marks on my neck for hours. Standing in front of the wardrobe mirror, I traced the darkening bruise surrounding the bite wounds with my fingertips while fighting off wave after wave of cloying vertigo. The night passed by without my notice, and it was nearly dawn before I was snapped out of my world-worn reverie by the sound of heavy wooden doors falling closed with nearly preternatural haste.

Rifling through my still as-yet unpacked suitcase, I managed to find a thin scarf to tie around my neck, driven by some deep and bitter instinct to hide the newly scabbed marks in whatever way I could. After quickly checking my appearance in the mirror (haggard and put out, perhaps, but nothing that screamed “just bitten”), I rushed to greet my “employers;” but the moment my hand met the doorknob, caution got the better of me.

After all, I realized, no one had _asked_ me to make myself available after the younger Sakamaki brothers had returned from school. Aside from convention – _human_ convention, I reminded myself – there was nothing keeping me from staying put until I was called upon. And if the way Reiji had acted was to be taken as any indication of the house’s daily mores…

I jerked my hand away from the knob with all the haste of the freshly electrocuted, stomach fluttering as I backed away from the door and sat myself down on the edge of the bed. Earlier I’d been so concerned with propriety I’d landed myself in a dangerous situation without the slightest bit of hesitation. I would do well to be more careful.

It was a big house, after all. Who’s to say I had to be easy to find?

 “We never did get to finish our conversation from earlier…”

I jumped – I seemed to be doing that a lot lately – and scrambled off the bed, turning to find Latio, grinning out from underneath the dark brim of his fedora from the far corner of the room. This time I _knew_ he hadn’t come in through the door, and the thought of this guy silently appearing in the room while I slept was utterly disturbing.

“Conversation?” I said carefully, straightening up as covertly as I could manage.

“You don’t remember,” he said with a sigh, “How… _dull_.”

Laito took his hat from his head and flipped it around a few times in his hands as he strolled across the room towards me.

“Even for a human, your memory sucks,” he said, tossing his hat on the bed, “Didn’t I tell you that Ayato and I had a wager?”

“Of course,” I said, fingers twitching into fists as my blood began to boil at the recollection.

“Then surely you know what happens next,” he said, his voice light and lyrical. He appeared to be examining the curtains, acting as though he had just mentioned the state of the weather or asked me out for a coffee rather than having reminded me of a wager for my blood.

 _Calm down,_ I rebuked myself. Nothing good would come of making enemies too quickly.

“I’m aware,” I said ambiguously.

“Oh I bet you are...” he said teasingly, “You’ll have to take that scarf off first, though. Wouldn’t want to ruin such a lovely accessory – unless you fancy the idea of me tearing it off your body with my teeth...”

“I’ll just take it off then,” I said quickly, slipping the scarf from my neck and revealing the bite marks and the bruises surrounding them. But far from being surprised, Laito stared at the marks with an unamused expression, as if they were something he’d expected from the start.

 _Did he ask about the scarf as a test?_ I wondered, a sickly feeling creeping up my throat as I slipped the length of thin cloth into my pocket. If he had meant to test my compliance, I shuddered to think what he would have done if I had resisted…

“Was it Ayato?” Laito said, sounding more bored than angry.

“Reiji, actually,” I said.

Laito rolled his eyes. “Of course it was. And judging by that bruise he wasn’t all that careful either. He always did have a taste for the sadistic…”

Then he smiled and scratched his head, looking at me with an almost apologetic expression.

“Ah, well, so much for drinking your blood.”

“You’re… not going to feed from me?”

“Oh no,” he said with a chuckle, “I wouldn’t want to use you up too quickly; I’m not _heartless,_ you know. Besides, there are other ways I can claim my prize from you tonight.”

“Other… ways?”

“But of course,” he said, his tone buoyant, “After all, there is more than one way that a woman can satisfy a man, right?”

The bottom fell out of my conscientiousness, and I saw red.

If there is any truth to the idea that, in times of crisis, it is possible for one’s entire life to pass through the lens of one’s memory in an instant, then it is perhaps not so much of a stretch to believe that in that one, singular moment, I saw every thought I’d had since arriving at Sakamaki house in a different light. After I’d been able to get over my initial disgust at the idea, I had thought that maybe, just _maybe_ , the entire experience would not be so unbearable after all. If I just did as I was told, I’d reasoned, just went along with their strange whims and tolerated their thirst for my blood, I might have been able to get by. Maybe obedience might earn me some sort of privilege or respect; at the very least, it would keep me alive.

But in that moment, I realized the true meaning of my enslavement. There would be no _going along_ with these people’s whims, because there was nothing they would not gladly take from me _._ There was no limit, no line, no outer confine to the parts of myself I would be asked to give. My blood, my body – everything would have to be offered up and more. And in the end, they would never be satisfied.

“ _Sorry,_ ” I said, pushing past him roughly to get at my suitcase, still half open on top of the bureau, “but I don’t really feel up to it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said I don’t really feel up to it,” I repeated, shoving items from my suitcase into the bureau drawers.

“You’re in no position to –”

“Well I don’t seem to care, now do I?” I said, spinning around to face him.

And then Laito started laughing, a high, self-satisfied laugh that made my stomach churn.

“That temper of yours really is _appalling,_ isn’t it?” he chortled, “So unrefined; it makes me want to punish you.”

“Well, you’ll have to get used to it then,” I spat, “Because it’s _never_ going to happen.”

In a flash one of his hands was at my neck, and I shuffled back so fast that I would have fallen had I not been standing right in front of the bureau and caught myself. I flinched away from the hand, but instead of going for my throat Laito caught the neck of my uniform and ripped. In one swift motion he had torn the front from my dress, and I shrieked as the fabric came away cleanly in his hand.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” I said, quickly wrapping my arms around myself.

“I must admit you are a _spirited one,_ aren’t you?” he said, rubbing his fingers over the cloth in his hand before tossing it aside, “You’re even more delicious when you’re angry.”

“I swear if you touch me…”

“I’ll touch you as much as I _please,_ little slut,” he hissed, green eyes flashing as he ran his gaze over my half-naked body.

“Don’t you dare—” I began.

He laughed again, high and hysterical, and terror gripped my heart with such a frigid hand that my limbs trembled and my tongue was rendered utterly speechless.

“Oh you’re so _fiery,_ little slut, it’s like you’re begging me to fuck you,” he said, and bile rose in my throat as he placed a hand on my thigh and seized my jaw with the other.

“Your blood is begging me, too,” he said, fangs bared in a manic grin, “You’re practically shivering in anticipation –”

“Like hell I am!” I said. Then I spat at him.

The humor drained from Laito’s face in an instant, and at once his hands sized around my arms with such ferocity that I cried out as my blood began seeping out from beneath his nails.

“ _Stop being so damn difficult,”_ he said, his voice dropping to a terrible pitch as he dug his nails further and further into my skin, “I know what you _really_ want, but if you insist on playing coy I’m going to get _angry.”_

“Y-you’re insane,” I said with a shaking voice.

“You’ll change your tone once I’m inside you,” he sneered, “You’ll fall so deeply into lust you’ll forget how to resist me.”

Then he thrust his hand between my legs, grasping me through the thin fabric of my underwear. I screamed, and squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to push him away. Next thing I knew –

_CRACK!_

The next thing I knew, there was a loud thwack and a crackling sound as Laito slammed into the window on the far side of the room.

For a moment we stared at each other, the mutual shock as palpable and as clear as fresh water in our shared gaze. Laito had been thrown back hard enough to shatter the thick, shadowed panes, and if it had not been for the metal cross braces he would have been thrown out of the room entirely. Glass was everywhere around him; on his clothes, in his hair, reflecting the wan morning light as thin shards of brightness penetrated the presiding gloom. The front of his shirt had been shredded, as if someone had just gone at it with a weed whacker, and the edges smoked faintly like a freshly blown-out match as dark crimson blood began to soak through from the deep cuts underneath. For a long time we stared at each other, confusion reflecting back, redoubling itself and returning in newfound multiplicity to the sender. Then his gaze flicked downwards, and for once he was not staring at my chest but at something else entirely.

I followed his gaze. Where they rested, still half-raised in my defense, my hands were surrounded by a crimson light that sparked and cracked as if about to combust.

 _Well…_ I thought numbly, _this is new._

“What the fuck’s going on here?!” came a harsh voice from the hall.

The crimson light died from my hands as the light pink-haired one – Subaru, I recalled– charged into the room with an irate scowl.

“What the hell happened to you?” Subaru said, mirroring our confusion as he stared at his older brother on the floor, surrounded by shattered glass.

“Subaru, she’s – ”

Subaru turned to me at Laito’s indication, instantly flushing pink and averting his crimson eyes as my state of relative undress registered in his mind.

“Ah fucking— Laito what the _fuck_ did you do?!” said Subaru, putting a hand up in an oddly endearing attempt to try and shield me from his gaze.

“Forget the bitch, I’m the one who almost died here!” Laito snarled.

“ _Why is she naked??”_ Subaru demanded, still blushing furiously as he tried to stare down his elder brother without glancing in my direction.

“Shit— _Why is that important right now??”_ Laito fired back, cursing as an unseen shard of glass made a deep slice in his hand as he leveraged himself up off the floor.

“Brother, you’re all bloody,” said a soft, monotonous voice from the doorway. Laito’s head immediately snapped up, and a strange sort of wince creased his eyes at the sides.

“Kanato….” Laito said, his voice curiously strained. Kanato looked at him curiously, his pale eyes peeking out from behind his teddy bear.

“Alright, what’d ya break, peaches _?”_ Ayato’s mocking voice called from off beyond Kanato’s shoulder. When his tall frame crossed the threshold, he took one look between Laito and myself before his green eyes turned a shade of crimson so violent I could have sworn they were on fire.

“ _You,”_ he growled, and in the next instant a hand clutched around my throat as Ayato began to squeeze the life from my body.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” yelled Subaru.

“ _Ayato get back!”_ Laito warned franticly, but Ayato’s grip only tightened. My lungs were screaming for air as I clawed at Ayato’s hand, desperately trying to pry away the fingers that were set around my neck like railroad spikes strapped to a vise that was about to be screwed shut around my trachea.

And then I was on the ground, gasping and clutching my wounded throat as Ayato was thrown against the bureau. I looked up.

Reiji was standing over me, eyes glowing and looking down his nose at me with something inscrutable in his eyes.

“Someone explain this to me,” Reiji said, “ _Quickly.”_

“That bitch just—” began Ayato.

“ _She’s a witch,”_ said Laito.

_Well fuck._


	9. The Life and Times of Arakawa Rie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so, I got a bit carried away....  
> So last night when I posted this chapter, I was a bit knackered and accidentally posted Ch. 9 as the old version of the text too early, but instead of editing that version I accidentally edited and posted a second version as Ch. 10. So.  
> Chapter 9 has officially been re-posted with some revisions and edits (thanks to Rin for pointing that out to me), and chapter 10 will be a [Placeholder] until I finish the actual content.  
> Sorry for the inconvenience, darlings ;-)  
> -NE

It’s weird when someone accuses you of being a witch. But it’s even weirder when they’re right.

While not exactly common, it’s not the strangest thing in the world by half. A house full of vampires in the middle of Japan, ghosts who make fairly good domestic employees, and _oh yeah,_ there’s an entire high-end academy that caters _exclusively to vampire kind??_ Suddenly being born into a family of witches seems downright pedestrian.

But usually, being a witch is a fairly low-drama occupation. Fortune-tellings, blessings and consecrations, the occasional exorcism. And yeah, occasionally something exciting happens and all the local magic families come together to sit around a table and _deal,_ but the closest my life has ever gotten to the infamous Harry Potter series is that I used to work for a temp agency with _Phoenix_ in the name. Take that as you will.

But the whole red-glowy-aura-thingy was a bit out of left field, even for me. Unusual phenomenon has sort of been par for the course over the last four years, and my own magic has become… whatever the word _unstable_ becomes when it results in two minor explosions and one very  case of second-degree burns.

But the story of how my magic got totally fucked doesn’t start with me.

It starts with a rose.

A whole bunch of roses, actually. Giant, white-pink roses that looked almost purple under the right light, that bloom every spring like clockwork at the conclusion of the previous winter’s thaw. These pale pink roses have bloomed for well over two decades, and the story of their genesis is the story of how the Arakawa family became one of the most feared and respected witch clans in Gifu prefecture.

Perhaps it seems impossible that a rose garden could be the sole turning point a family’s history.  Perhaps it was only one of many possible paths that would lead us inexorably to the same fate. But believe me when I say that that rose garden was the most damnably horrid thing that ever came of a young girl’s good intentions.

The story begins over twenty seven years ago, on the day of my mother’s Naming ceremony. The ritual, or Metamorphosis, is a rite that has taken place on the 17th birthday of every witch in our family since anyone can remember. It’s the time when a young woman takes a new name to signifying that she has “grown into” her powers and transformed from a girl into a woman, ready to take her first steps into the world as an adult. In the more prominent households, it’s also the time when the eldest daughter of a clan accepts her heritage as the heir apparent to her clan’s matriarch, and the neighboring clans send representatives to present gifts in her honor.

Short version? Fancy party, fancy gifts, lots of people. Moving on.

So the Arakawa clan’s matriarch at the time, my grandmother, Arakawa Uzume, had gathered the neighboring clans to pay their respects on the day that Junko, my mother, would be named as our clan’s successor. As a result, everyone who was anyone in attendance. And in hindsight, maybe this was part of the problem.

My mother had a little sister. Aunt Izumi (then called Emiko), a mere 13 years old at the time, had a surprise planned for her elder sister. She’d been taught about the metamorphosis as a child, and a particular image had stuck with her ever since. After presenting the idea to her tutors, she was certain her plan would go off without a hitch, and they’d been careful to keep the entire plan an utter secret.

When it came time to present her gift, Emiko walked to the wellspring in the middle of the gardens and spread her hands over the waters. She called to the earth, the soil, the forces of Light and the triadic resonance of the Moon, then placed a small Sheba stone at the source of the current. As she drew her hands from the current, living water leapt over the sides of the basin and coursed through the grounds in all directions.

A few moments later, the guests hurried out of the way and gasped as the gardens exploded into bloom. Great big rose bushes sprang up from every place the water touched, covering every inch of the gardens, vining up over the walls and fences and flowing like a river of growth out to all available corners of the estate until the area was saturated with lightly colored blossoms and the air suffused with the subtle scent of rose.

It was impressive. It was _too_ impressive. And that didn’t sit well with mommy dearest.

Over the next three years, a lot of attention was payed to Aunt Izumi’s development. It was clear from the outset, at least according to grandfather Akihiko, that Izumi was the more naturally gifted of the two. People started whispering that grandmother Uzume should choose her successor anew, that while Junko was ambitious and showed much dedication, it was Izumi, the more skilled and even-tempered of the two, who should take the reins after their mother’s death.

While Grandma Uzume never said publicly that she had even considered anointing Izumi in her place, for my mother this was no reassurance. My grandmother was a notoriously closed-lipped woman; she spoke little, held her cards close to the vest, and Junko knew that if she were considering such a drastic move no one – excepting perhaps my grandfather – would hear a word of it until the decision was final.

So, Junko must have thought, why take the chance? Why not make sure, absolutely, definitely _sure_ , that no one could usurp her place?

A few nights before her sister’s Metamorphosis, Junko ventured into the mountains in secret. On an outcrop high above the town, she cast a circle born of salt and iron into the rocky earth and sealed it with her blood. A few paces off she cast another, larger this time, forged of blood and bone and triplicate dark Fire, drawn around her feet while standing in its midst. Once her preparations were complete, all Junko needed was a demonstration of Intent before her summoning could commense.

Three days later, on the day of aunt Izumi’s Metamorphosis, with the entirety Junko Arakawa summoned a great white and gold crane of pure Holy Fire, a giant sentient construct which flew over the crowd and blessed the entire proceeding before blazing out of existence. From that day forth, no one questioned Junko’s right to the Arakawa name.

Well, almost no one.

To outsiders, it was a magnificent display of esoteric dexterity. But to a few in our family, it seemed a bit too good to be true. Izumi saw it first; she knew her sister, knew that Junko would not have been capable of such a feat on her own. But what’s more, she knew of her sister’s vast talent for summoning beings of all sorts and forcing them to do her will. So when her sister’s newfound power proved to be much more than a one-time display, Izumi was the first in my family to realize that what Junko had done was not just one spell or ritual for a temporary exchange of power. No, what Junko had made could only be one thing.

An Infernal Compact.

It took her some time, but aunt Izumi was eventually able to scrape together a handful of details about the contract her sister had forged and the demon by which it was enacted, mostly by doing favors for Light spirits and the occasional Goddess who was friendly to her cause. My aunt never knew what exact ritual she used, as the Grimoires and Shadow Books of the Arakawa clan contain no such working – it’s not exactly something you break out at parties, you know? But according to Izumi’s sources, Junko had made a compact with a creature named Golgariah, a Volpar demon (humanoid, massively tall, slightly reptilian, _sharp_ teeth) who had a reputation for granting access to immense magical power in exchange for one thing, and one thing only:

A magician’s firstborn child.

“I guess you can say I got Rumpelstiltskin’d,” I said, trying to force a sardonic grin that ended up as more of a nervous cringe than anything else.

“And yet you’re still here,” said Reiji, in a tone that was maddeningly unreadable.

“Yeah….” I said.

I was sitting in a chair at one end of a large dining area, positioned against one wall of the room. Reiji sat with his hands folded neatly in his lap, his face a mask that betrayed no emotion whatsoever as he continued in his questioning of me.

After Reiji had managed to stop Ayato from killing me, I was confined to my room for over an hour until the brothers decided that I should be questioned before my fate was “decided.” Before I was killed, most likely. I had assumed it would just be Reiji and Ayato, of whom the latter seemed to be trying to cast his vote for enhanced interrogation and corporal punishment, though no one was taking count. Currently he was pacing back and forth behind Reiji’s chair, throwing murderous glances in my direction every few seconds that made my breath hitch and the muscles in my bruised neck twinge.

But the rest of the brothers had shown up as well, although admittedly that raised more questions than it answered. Shu was already in the room when we arrived, and though Reiji had “politely” asked him to make himself scarce, the eldest Sakamaki had blatantly refused, putting in a pair of earbuds and leaning against the wall off to the left near the doorway. He also seemed to have had his eyes closed since we say down, which was…. Odd. What was the point of staying if he was just going to ignore everything that was said or done?

Kanato had come in next. I suppose he did that weird little teleportation trick that they all seemed so fond of, because a few minutes into my interrogation Reiji asked Kanato if he believed my story.

“I suppose so,” came a soft voice from the middle of the room. I looked, and sure enough there was Kanato, sitting underneath the table with his Teddy in his lap, staring at me with those pale lavender eyes that were some strange and subtle combination of disconcerting and hypnotic.

But the biggest surprise was Laito, still midway through being patched up by Subaru, who had slipped in through the far entrance to the room during my explanation about Izumi and the rose garden incident. Subaru had followed not a minute later, following Laito into the room with a half-spent roll of medical gauze in one hand and a green glass bottle full of something… dark… in the other, as well as what looked like some sort of homemade medical kit slung over one shoulder. Though the two of them stood a ways off, the pair having alighted near a window on the other side of the dining room, they were very clearly looking in the direction of my impromptu interrogation every few minutes and whispering to one another about something… pressing? Controversial? Whatever it was, neither looked very happy about it.

Sure my position there was strange, and it was understandable that they would be concerned about some random human sacrifice almost killing one of their brothers, but the fact that all of them had shown up? It seemed a little odd. Ayato and Reiji made sense; the former wanted revenge (if his frequent repetition of the phrase “why don’t you shut the fuck up Reiji and let me kill her already” was any indication), and the latter wanted all the information at his disposal, presumably before he decided if he should let his younger brother do just that. Kanato was a bit harder to crack, but something registering on a scale between curiosity and straight up voyeurism seemed the most likely explanation, given the way he just sat and stared and said nothing much unless spoken to. Shu was… a mystery. He didn’t really seem interested in anything that was going on. But as the head of the household and the one who technically… gods this is humiliating… who technically _owned_ me, I suppose it was his prerogative to at least watch the proceedings.

But Laito? I had no idea why he was there. I kept glancing over at him, expecting something like Reiji’s icy gaze or Ayato’s furious glaring. But he looked more troubled than anything else, glancing away the second our eyes met, cringing every now and then as Reiji pressed me for answers. From Subaru’s fretting it was clear that Laito was in no way supposed to have made an appearance, but it was clear that Laito would not be moved despite looking like he’d rather be absolutely anywhere else.

“Oh for fuck’s sake Reiji, are you buying any of this shit?” Ayato said, “She’s obviously lying; no one breaks demon contracts and lives.”

“It is unlikely, I will admit,” Reiji began, “however –”

“I say we kill her and get it the fuck over with,” said Ayato.

“And _I_ say we do not yet possess the prerequisite information to achieve a rational conclusion,” said Reiji, his jaw tensing ever so slightly as he glanced in Ayato’s direction and returned his brother’s pointed glare. It seemed like his patience was growing thin, and right then his patience was the only thing keeping me alive.

“For what it’s worth… you’re not wrong about that.”

The room grew uncomfortably still at that declaration, and for a second I wondered if bringing it up had been a bad move.

“Explain,” Reiji said, in that tone that brooked no objections. I took a deep breath.

“My aunt… she’s the one who broke the compact,” I said. Which was… technically true.  I was going to have to be cleaver to get myself out of this alive, but revealing the whole truth? _Definitely_ not what they wanted to hear. My life depended on leaving out _exactly_ the right amount of information, and not a sentence more.

“And how did she manage that?” said Reiji. Was that skepticism I heard in his voice? Irritation? Boredom? Intrigue? _Epistemological Nihilism???_ _Goddamn it_ he was being infuriatingly hard to read.

“Well… I’m not exactly sure. The contract didn’t terminate until I came of age – that’s 17 for witches –”

“We know,” said Reiji.

“Right… well… when I was a kid, Aunt Izumi managed to track down the demon I was promised to and… trade her life… for mine.”

“And this demon accepted?”

“Well… not exactly. She also had to trade her powers as a witch. She could still do little stuff, the normal stuff anyone can do with practice, but… she gave up her inheritance as a member of our family. And when it was time for the compact to be completed...” I inhaled shakily, fully intending to finish my thought. But my chest was tight, and I couldn’t find the words. So all I ended up saying was, “Yeah,” and left it at that.

“And you still claim the Arakawas have no connection to the Umbridge clan?” said Reiji.

“Look, honestly? Even if we did…” I said, my voice still a bit raw, “Even if we did, I wouldn’t know about it. Izumi is the one who raised me, since mommy dearest didn’t exactly want to raise her human sacrifice of a child anyway. Then after Grandmother died and my mother inherited her position, Junko made sure Izumi was ostracized after apparently “loosing” her powers in what everyone was told was a freak accident. The more influence Junko manages to scrape up for our family, the less contact we had with anyone who was even friendly to the family. Neither of us had spoken to anyone from the main branch of the family in like… eight years… when she… when Izumi…”

I swallowed hard, and rubbed my eyes with my palms to quell the stinging of my unspent tears.

“So yeah. That’s all I know.”

“Unfortunately,” said Reiji, “I believe you.”

And then Shu was in front of me, grasping Reiji’s wrist as the younger Sakamaki’s hand was mere inches from tearing a hole straight through my ches.

I yelped, scrambling back so fast I would have tipped over the chair if it hadn’t been set against the wall. I hadn’t even seen Reiji move, or tense, or make any attempt to stand. But somehow he’d managed not only to make an attempt on my life, but be _thwarted_ in his attempt on my life, all before my eyes and brain could register either vampire’s movement.

_I wouldn’t have seen a thing._

“I won’t let you do this,” said Shu, his voice surprisingly firm for someone who seemed reluctant to involve himself in much of anything, ever.

“ _Shu,”_ Reiji growled, “Don’t you dare—”

“If you believe her then you know she’s not a spy,” said Shu, his grip tightening on Reiji’s arm. For a long, tense moment they stared at each other; the room seemed to hold its breath. Then finally, Reiji withdrew and Shu released him.

“Just because she doesn’t realize what she is… doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous,” said Reiji, straining to move his damaged wrist as he stared down at me with nothing less than raw murderous intent.

“I thought you said we were only going to kill her if she was an assassin,” Ayato chimed in.

_Assassin???_

“That’s what I was _trying_ to do,” said Reiji.

“I thought you said she doesn’t know–” said Atayo.

“It doesn’t matter what she knows,” said Reiji, interrupting, “She’s–”

“An assassin who doesn’t even know–” said Shu.

 _“She’s a bomb,”_ Reiji hissed, slamming Shu against the wall so hard the shelves rattled, “She didn’t _have_ to know a damn thing! We’re only alive, _Laito_ is only alive, because that witch can’t control her own strength,” he said, and a chill ran down my spine at his words.

I hadn’t revealed that little detail, hadn’t even _mentioned_ it because it would mean being dangerously close to admitting that the reason I can barely do anything with magic is because the demon who held my mother’s compact sealed my powers as a child. I have no control over my powers because I’ve only just barely gotten them; a toddler has more control than I do.

And the only reason the demon thought a seal was necessary? Aunt Izumi was never actually able to end the compact on my life. She was only able to have it extended by offering her powers in exchange and her life as collateral. And there’s no way in hell I’m admitting to these bastards the lengths we went to keep our lives, even if in the end… Izumi never had a chance.

I hadn’t mentioned the state of my powers because it would mean I’d be dangerously close to admitting to the way the compact on my life really ended. But Reiji had just figured it out on his own, albeit without that context. What else had I revealed without realizing it?

“Reiji…” Ayato said, still looking a bit confused, “How the hell does that make sense?”

“The Umbridge clan clearly intended her to be used as a sacrifice,” Reiji said in precise, clipped phrases, “They must have known about her _power,_ and sent her expecting that whichever one of us was the first to cross her would be the first to die.

“Then there’s no reason to kill her,” Shu protested.

_Is he… defending me?_

“Like Hell there isn’t,” Reiji said, “If she was sent by our enemies, then her only purpose here –”

“—is to kill me,” said Shu.

The room grew very, _very still_ , and the tension was so palpable it was damn near visible.

“There’s no way they could have predicted –” Reiji began.

“ _If_ she was a plant, I’m the one she was sent to. I’m the one who was supposed to use her first, correct?”

“That… does seem… likely,” Reiji conceded stiffly.

“And there’s no way they would have been able to predict that I would… decline… such a gift, yes?”

“No… they don’t… know us,” said Reiji, “Hardly at all.”

“And knowing what we know now… is she a threat to us?”

“I don’t think you’re understanding what’s at stake –”

“ _Can she kill one of us?”_ Shu said, cutting him off.

“No,” Reiji admitted, finally letting go of Shu’s shirt and moving away from him to lean against the table. He looked exhausted.

“Then there’s no reason to kill her,” said Shu, “If she’s a plant, we risk tipping our hand to Umbridge by killing her; leaving her alive means they’ll likely assume their plan still had a chance of working and hold their position instead of fleeing the second their plant is eliminated.”

No one spoke. I think I wasn’t the only one who realized the weight of what had just transpired.

 _That guy just beat Reiji in a battle of wills… and out strategized him??_ From a guy who apparently spent most of his life sleeping and avoiding responsibility, he sure as hell knew how to get his way.

“Laito,” Reiji said finally.

“…yeah?” Laito said, avoiding eye contact.

“You don’t happen to have an _opinion_ on this decision, do you?” Reiji asked through clenched teeth.

“She can’t kill us; she’s more useful alive. I’m going back to bed,” Laito said tersely, then strode out of the room, a concerned Subaru following close behind.

“Kanato,” said Ayato not a moment later, “let’s go play checkers.”

He shot Kanato a look that seemed to say that now was really not the time to interfere with their elder brothers’ feud.

“Okay,” said Kanato, crawling out from beneath the table with Teddy in tow, following closely behind his brother as they both quietly left the room. I can’t really blame them. From the way the others were acting, I got the impression that vampire family arguments can go from blusterous to bloody in about five seconds flat.

“I am not responsible for where this leads,” Reiji said after the others had left the room, his voice a deadly whisper with a razor’s edge of resentment.

“Didn’t ask you to be,” Shu said with a shrug. Reiji’s hands tensed into fists, and I could swear I saw a flash of that deadly crimson light passing through his eyes; my whole body tensed as I prepared for something horrible, or at the very least unspeakably violent. But the moment passed, and with one terribly bitter look at Shu and one decidedly murderous look at me, Reiji grabbed his coat and left.

“So what happens now?” I asked Shu after a moment.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing to you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Shu regarded me for a long moment. Then he cringed slightly.

“I… have to make a call,” he said cryptically, then with another slightly pained expression, pulled a cell phone from his pocket and started typing things into it.

“I’ll go,” I said, standing.

“You still can’t leave the house,” he said quickly.

I turned to him slowly, swallowing the flash of panicked rage that was making my want to scream in his face right about then.

_Deep breath, deep breath, deep breath…._

“I know,” I said carefully on an exhale, “I was just… giving you… space.” Shu cringed again.

“Right…. right,” was all he said. He wouldn’t look at me.

I left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The long-awaited (long-bemoaned?) backstory chapter is here! This one's a bit long, and it's got a fuck-ton of exposition. Sorry about that... suck it up and swallow, my darlings. That bitter pill shall be sweetened by the saccharine ecstasies presented in Chapter 10, formerly known as "Anand apologizes for not posting in a while, Part 3"


	10. The Weight of Crimson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Told you I'd make this a chapter. :)

_Red. Always, always red. Tinging every moment, twisting every chord… the red pervades, perverts, consumes all that it touches._

_My eyes open afore the seas. Ancient seas, the seas of my homeland, swirling eddying seas of crimson running down over shorelines darker than the darkest midnight hour – the sands of time filtered through an obsidian glass. I stand on the beach and weep tears of bitter hatred that burn as they slide down my cheeks…_

_The scene changes. More red. A crimson carpet spreads out beneath my feet, pouring over the black stone floor. I try to look up, but as I start to move my knees buckle, and hideous laughter screams through my head and out my bleeding eyes from something tremulous that beats against my rib cage…_

_“What have you done?!”_

_Crimson drips down my hands, and the knife slips from my grasp as the dark-haired child hauls my little frame up by the shirt-front._

_“This wasn’t supposed to happen!” he screams, and laughter bubbles out of my mouth unbidden as a voice that is not my own says:_

_“Of course it was,_ stupid boy _.”_

I woke up shivering amidst a bout of vertigo, the thin light of sunset filtering through the recently repaired window by my bed. The dreams always left me reeling, sick, and more exhausted than I’d been the night before.

_Honestly… why I do I even bother trying to sleep anymore?_

I’d been having the “weirdmares” every few nights since that incident four years ago. They weren’t exact pleasant, and they weren’t always terrifying; but they were always definitively _weird,_ hence the nickname, and always mind-shatteringly intense _._ It was akin to experiencing a full-body sense memory, a dream so real and so entirely indistinguishable from reality it’s almost hard to tell the difference between the two.

_Almost._

The dreams might be vivid, and they might be very, _very_ convincing at the time; but it’s a bit like being thrown off a very tall building overlooking a river. For a few precious moments, weightlessness is an almost miraculous occurrence: strange and beautiful and utterly enrapturing in its totality. But sooner or later you hit the water – the surface tension breaks across your back, crushing your unguarded frame under the weight of your own momentum. And even if you manage to survive, you’re going to hurt like _holy fucking hell_ in the morning.

I sat up carefully, grabbing one of the apples I had begun keeping by my bedside for just such an occasion, and forced myself to take a bit. Somehow these dreams always had a way of making me almost impossibly hungry while having the unfortunate side effect of making all food seem entirely unappetizing. Maybe it had something to do with living in this damn house, or maybe more so with me sleeping during the day to accommodate the brothers’ nocturnal lifestyle; but ever since I started “working” at House Sakamaki, the weirdmares had started appearing with a renewed frequency. 

_Just one of the many, many ways this job is terrible for my health._

Standing was a bitch, but one does what one must. I braced myself on the bedpost as I waited for my vision to normalize, blood slowly but surely flowing back into the area around my skull. As the grey began to fade from my vision, my still as-yet cloudy eyesight came to rest on a silver tray that had been placed atop the bureau while I slept.

Once I was sure I wouldn’t topple over, I walked to the bureau to examine the tray’s contents: Salmon, miso soup, a cup of tea, and a cream-colored note that read:

_“Help the ghosts clean. Do not make yourself a nuisance.”_

“Good fucking morning to you too, Reiji,” I grumbled, crumpling up the note and throwing it into the waste bin.

It had been two weeks since the “she’s a witch” conversation, though I hadn’t laid eyes on him in days, Reiji had in the interim taken to sending me notes along with my daily meals containing a set of instructions provided with the express purpose of me “making myself useful,” as the first missive had detailed. Usually the notes said something along the lines of “Sweeping the garden walkways,” “Organizing the books in the west sitting room alphabetically and by genre,” and no matter how many times I completed my tasks _to the letter,_ the bastard never failed to find something to berate me about whenever I chanced to encounter him.

He'd also taken to including an additional daily instruction to keep my head down, little curtly-worded reminders that my position in the damnable household was non-negotiable and that any sort of rebellion was a one-way ticket to an excruciating death.

_Like I need to be told._

Aside from Reiji the brothers Sakamaki seemed to be trying to avoid dealing with me in any possible way. Ayato and Laito had all but disappeared from my daily encounters. Every time I ran into Subaru, the vampire would look away clumsily and blush before scowling at me and insisting he had to leave. Shu was nowhere to be seen, thought I got the feeling that general avoidance is a convention of his And Kanato…

I had no idea how Kanato felt about the entire situation. He wasn’t exactly cordial, but he would still pop up every now and then, say something a bit off the wall, and then disappear without a trace. A few days back he’d crept up behind me while I was sweeping ash out of one of the fireplaces:

“You can’t press too hard on a bird’s chest.”

He came up so quietly I startled, thwacking my head into the mantelpiece in the process.

“ _Ow…._ Fucking hell, Kanato,” I said, coughing a bit as the clouds of ash dust billowed up into my nose, “you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Kanato just stood there, one arm looped around his Teddy’s neck, looking at me with that odd little tilt of the head he gets when he’s waiting for a proper response.

“What’s this about birds?” I said, trying to remember, “You can’t press their chests?”

“You _can…_ but you shouldn’t though,” he said, then poked two fingers into his collar bone a few times.

“They have a fused clavicle,” he said, “so if you press too had they’ll break.”

“Oh… alright…” I said, searching for the correct response. Kanato just stood there for a second, then turned his Teddy around and stared deeply into the doll’s one remaining eye.

“I’m not a bird,” Kanato had declared firmly. Then he’d secured Teddy back under his arm and walked off without another word.

That was always more or less the sum of the whole experience. And though it was certainly peculiar, it was the most face-to-face interaction with a living creature I was privy to, so in all honesty it wasn’t entirely unwelcome.

As I secured my apron around my waist and headed down to the old servants’ quarters, I wondered just what sort of ‘helping’ I’d be doing today. Despite the minutia of Reiji’s instruction, the general theme of my daily chores had less to do with cleaning and was more along the lines of “the ghosts can’t do it, so now it’s your job.”

 Sometimes the reasoning for this was obvious, like answering the door and talking to humans while the brothers were out. But at other times, the necessity of my involvement was less apparent, like when my instructions detailed picking up certain items from certain rooms and placing them in other rooms. For example: A few days ago, one of the ghosts had shown me to one of the third floor bathrooms and pointed out a comb that had been left on the sink.

“Do I need to clean this?” I’d asked.

The ghost shook his head no, then did a little lifting gesture with his hands that usually indicated I’d need to pick up whatever object he’d specified.

“Do I need to put this somewhere?”

To this the answer was an affirmative yes, and a big smile spread across his face as he nodded his head in the direction of the hallway to let me know that I’d be following him somewhere. I ended up having to leave the comb on a side table in one of the living rooms.

“Why did I move this thing again?” I’d asked.

All I got in response was an apologetic shrug and an equally rueful smile, as if to say “If I could explain this to you I would; but I can’t, so I won’t,” and that was the end of our interaction.

Aside from specific tasks and the occasional obscure fetch-quest, my daily activities usually consisted of hanging around the spectral house staff and doing whatever I was told. It was in many ways exactly like my old job at the temp agency; shuffled from job to job, never holding the same position twice, and all you really need to know is how to be a quick study and do as you’re told. Excepting, of course, that now instead of shorthanded businessmen I’m temping for a bunch of dead people, who all things considered are nicer on average than most of the living people I currently have occasion to interact with.

_Gods my life is weird right now…_

There weren’t many ghosts in the servant’s quarters today; when I walked into the room Shizuka, one of the elder ghosts, waved me over and handed me a piece of paper inked over in her neat, formal script. The missive read:

_This is Megumi. She needs help dusting a room on the second floor. Would you mind helping her out today?_

There was a younger ghost standing just a bit behind Shizuka’s shoulder, her form still a little wispy around the edges. Her translucent hands twiddled with the lace on the hem of her spectral skirt and her dark eyes searched the floorboards with a sheepish air. She couldn’t have been more than nineteen, and my heart did a little twisty thing as I realized that, judging by the style of her clothing, she couldn’t have been dead for more than a couple of years.

“Happy to help,” I said, grabbing a dust rag from the bin and smiling in Megumi’s direction.

We walked in silence of course, and though I tried to keep grinning affably at my young work partner in what I hoped was a gesture of reassurance, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was making her nervous. It wasn’t exactly an uncommon reaction – a lot of the ghosts seemed to just about as amiable to the idea of working with a human as most humans would be to the idea of working with a ghost. Then again, the whole “I’m a witch being kept by their vampire overloads for politically strategic purposes” thing probably didn’t win me any favors.

Shizuka seemed to like me well enough, and as one of the only ghosts with decent enough fine motor skills to permit the execution of legible penmanship, her ability to act as a translator had saved me more than a few times already. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was a bit off this time, and the vagaries of Shizuka’s instruction did nothing to curb my dubious humor.

The room in question was situated at the end of one of the second-floor hallways. It was a rather plain room, tidy and unoccupied. The bed was neatly made, the shelves and surfaces entirely bare of contents, and the only thing that could be described as a “personal touch” was a set of frilly dark pink bed covers and the matching window dressings, which I can only presume were left over from the previous occupant.

As I stared into the room I wondered what could be so difficult about the dusting in a seemingly unoccupied guest quarters. But I stepped across the threshold, I shivered as I a wave of strange energy began pressing in on me from all sides.

_What the hell is this? It’s so intense… no wonder she had trouble entering._

The energy wasn’t painful exactly, but it was about seven levels of uncomfortable – and this is coming from someone whose soul has a physical body to protect it from such things. From the way Megumi hovered on the edge of the doorway, eyes flitting around the room like spring crickets after a storm, she must have been terribly harrowed by the oppressive, almost saccharine aura that seemed to pervade every inch of the living space.

_Poor thing… she must have been terrified._

As I started to dust the shelves I turned back, only to find that Megumi was still standing just outside the threshold, unable to enter but still as yet unsure of whether or not to take her leave.

“I can take care of things in here,” I said, making sure to smile reassuringly as I did so, “Why don’t you ask Ms. Shizuka if she has something else for you to do?”

Megumi nodded, then bowed quickly before hurrying back down the hallway, her form dematerializing into a wafting, bluish smoke that flowed through the air like a silk scarf caught on the breeze.

As I worked my way across the surfaces of the room, I noticed two things. First, judging by the sheer volume of particulate, the room couldn’t have been dusted more than once in the past year. And second, that oppressive aura was _everywhere._ The walls, the shelves, the bedframe – all perfused with an aura that in all honesty made me want to crawl into a small, dark corner and cower meekly for a few centuries.

The term “oppressive aura” can be more than a little ephemeral. People in the metaphysical community can have a variety of definitions, which can be especially confusing to folks who’ve never had to deal with the irritating and entirely inconvenient “gift” of extrasensory perception. Aura sensing is a bit of a “you just had to be there” type deal, a genre of experience that is almost entirely antithetical to being accurately relayed in diagetical terms. It’s like trying to describe to someone the precise taste of your favorite brand of ice cream… only in this situation, the person to whom you are speaking not only has never tasted ice cream, but has been a chronic ageusiac all their life and as a result _has never tasted anything, ever._

But if I can liken it to anything, it’s this: Imagine your creepiest relative.

We all have at least one, someone we’re related to whose mental image pulls us beyond simple like and dislike and into the realm of real, honest-to-god disgust. If you’re having trouble deciding, pick the one person in your family you would _not_ want to be left alone in a room with for too long.

You know. _That_ one.

Picture that person clearly in your mind. Picture what it’s like to be, as I’ve suggested, stuck alone in a room with them.

Now you’re a busy person. You’ve got _things_ to do. And since you don’t have time to deal with this creepy relative of yours, you busy yourself with tasks and try to get on with your day.

But now that person is standing behind you. Not _directly_ , mind, but over your left shoulder; they’re out of the scope of your vision, and yet they’re standing just off-center enough that they can watch everything that _you’re_ doing without really being seen themselves.

When you move, they move. When you turn, they turn. The most you can do is occasionally catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of your eye. Every time you turn your head, they slip even further out of sight; but every time you barely look, glancing just out of the corner of your eye, you can see the barest shadow of their form – saying nothing, doing nothing; just standing, staring, and watching your every move.

And then they put their hand on your shoulder.

Feel the weight of their hand pressing down on you, the weight of their unwanted gaze given physical, tangible form by this simple, repulsive gesture. Feel the sickening irritation of not being able to shake off the hand, the confinement of being incapable of denying them the privilege of their revolting physical contact because “After all, we’re family, right?”

The feeling begins to multiply. There’s one on your forehead. Now there’s one on your ankle. There are hands on your stomach, on your back, on your crotch, on the back of your knees and pressing down over your ears. The hands begin to slip inside you, and their sodden, repulsive weight begins to bear down on your liver, your intestines, your heart, your lungs, your very bones themselves –

 _That’s_ what an oppressive aura feels like.

I was wiping down the top of the wardrobe, doing my best to keep my mind off the horrid presence in the air when my hand knocked something off the top and onto the floor.

A silver cross hung at the end of a chain speckled with red gems. In the center of the cross, a pink ruby glistened in the light. Amazingly the trinket seemed to be the only object in the vicinity to which the sticky domineering aura refused to cling. Instead, a sterile whiteness emanated from the object, utterly undaunted by the aura that had claimed the rest of the object in the room. It had all the presence of a cherished heirloom, a well-used symbol of religious piety that had been long ago sanctified by clergy, charged time and again with the prayers of its owners, and had the distinctive, lily-white aura to prove it.

_What are a bunch of vampires doing with an object like this?_

Suddenly I had a very bad feeling about the fate of the pink room’s last occupant. An occupant that had fancied bright pink sheets and lace curtains and prayed to the Christian god over a rosary that positively shined with devotion to a faith that seemed untainted by her circumstance. If she had wavered in her convictions, the aura would surely have faded by now – certainly in a room as sickly and perversely humored as this one. Whoever this belonged to believed, in the truest sense of the phrase, that her god was looking out for her.

_She never stood a chance…_

“What could you _possibly_ be doing in this room?”

I shoved the rosary into my apron pocket and wheeled around. Just beyond the threshold, Reiji stood glowering at me over the polished silver food tray he held in his hands.

“Oh! Wow. You’re… _here,”_ I said, a bit more awkwardly than I’d hoped.

“ _Obviously_ ,” said Reiji.

“I’m, ah…” I lost the words, so I ended up holding up my cleaning rag in lieu of an explanation.

“Did the ghosts ask you to clean in here?” he asked, narrowing his crimson eyes in my direction.

“Yes…?” I said, wondering frantically if this was the wrong answer. Reiji isn’t usually one to postpone his terrifying castigations in the event of a slip up, but he _also_ was never one to pass up the opportunity to let his fellow conversationalist dig his or her own grave.

“Well you can stop now,” Reiji said, rolling his eyes, “There’s something of greater importance that requires your… _particular_ attention.”

“And that thing is… lunch?” I said, referencing the contents of the tray in Reiji’s hands. There were a variety of dishes involved in the meal; a bowl of rice with nori, a dish of natto, various tsukemono arranged by color, and a bowl of what appeared to be beet soup, only a little darker and more viscous and…

Oh. Right. _Vampires._

_I’m going to assume that’s not beet soup._

 “It’s not yours,” said Reiji.

“Right…” I said, not having assumed it was mine in the first place, “Then who—”

“It’s for Shu.”

 _He made all this for Shu?_ It seemed like a stretch, especially considering the very, _very_ thin ice they seemed to be on together right now. But it’s not like I actually understood a damn thing about either of them, so….

“And I’m… going to be… taking it to him, I assume?”

Reiji grit his teeth, and I prepared for something insulting. But he just looked away and said:

“You assume correctly.”

 _Alright, now_ that’s _weird._ Reiji never conceded a point that easily. Not _any_ point.

“And why exactly—”

“He won’t take it from me,” he said with a pained sort of grimace, handing me the tray so briskly the soup almost sloshed onto the tray, “So now it’s your problem.”

 _“_ And how am I supposed to—"

“I don’t care if you have to force feed him through a tube,” Reiji said, “you _make him_ eat it.”

 “Okay, but _why_ exactly —”

“Because if he doesn’t want to eat something,” he said, grabbing me by the chin and almost causing me to drop the platter, “then he’ll just have to eat some _one,_ now won’t he?”

“Holy – okay geese, I get it!” I said, backing away just enough to free myself from Reiji’s grasp. “Give Shu food, don’t take no for an answer.”

“At least you’re capable of understanding that much…” muttered Reiji, flicking open the cover of his fob watch and glaring into its face with no small degree of malice.

_Holy fuck… That was about three-fifths of a compliment._

First Reiji fails to excoriate me on sight, then misses several opportunities to lambaste my vernacular; now he’s conceding that I might actually have _capabilities_? Something was definitely, _definitely_ wrong.

“Are you…” I said, then caught myself.

“Am I what?” he snapped.

“Nothing,” I said quickly.

I had almost asked if he was alright, but halfway through I’d realized that such a line of inquiry could pose a serious risk to my health. Even if Reiji didn’t decide to murder me outright for my behavior, he would probably read me the riot act for having the audacity to be concerned about him in the first place.

_Fuck… am I concerned??_

 “Can you tell me where Shu’s room is?” I said, hoping he wouldn’t be too interested in my almost-question if he was busy giving directions.

“He’s not in his room,” said Reiji.

 “So where…?”

“I’ll show you to him,” Reiji said, attempting another one of his piercing glares for good measure. But this time the gesture seemed to lose steam halfway through, turning Reiji’s signature lethal irascibility into a muddled mien of worry that settled onto his features like a well-worn coat: that is, a little too comfortably.

_Fuck. Now I’m concerned._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy fucking hell, this one was a beast. I never thought that one little transitional scene would take so many rewrites before I'd manage to produce a workable copy. And yet, I still kind of want to bash its brains in and scoop out its delicate little eyes with a grapefruit spoon...  
> Like I said, this one was so. Damn. Complicated. Lots of little bug I didn't see coming. If there's anything confusing in there, drop me a comment. It's probably a vestigial limb left over from a previous incarnation, and will need to be summarily hacked before it gets gangrenous.  
> Kanato's bird factoids provided by: Merlin, the little pied cockatiel that tries to eat my keyboard every few hours.  
> What's Next?  
> Ch. 11: Feat. Shu. This one is actually already half-finished, seeing as its first half used to be this chapter's last half before... things happened. Projection: 1-2 weeks.  
> Ch. 12: Feat. Subaru. Looking to have finished before the end of September. Projection: 3-4 weeks.


	11. Music and Heartbeats Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Music and Heartbeats: Part One of Two

Reiji was uncharacteristically silent on the walk, our only interaction being the occasional glare he’d shot me over his shoulder, apparently for the crime of not walking fast enough for his liking. After a few turns we arrived at the end of the hallway that lead to one of the manor’s several large bathing rooms, this one in the South wing of the house. The door had been conspicuously left open, and the sound of running water emanated from beyond.

“He’s down there,” Reiji said.

“In the bathroom?”

“It’s an… avocation of his,” said Reiji, scowling towards the open door. “You’ll understand when you see him.”

I stared off into the portal, but all I could see was the dim glow of the sconces flickering against the stone walls.

“What kind of hobbies do you— Ah….”

Before I could finish my question on the nature of Shu’s peculiar “avocation,” as he’d put it, the bespectacled Sakamaki brother was already halfway back down the hallway.

_Well he certainly bugged out of here damn fast…_

With no place to go but forward, I crossed the seven paces of dark wood flooring between myself and the doorway.

Then I stopped.

The Southeast bathing room was a ridiculously expansive room covered almost exclusively in cream-colored marble.  It was one of the more ornate bathing rooms in the entire mansion, with four sets of shower heads and stools set lining one wall; along the other, water ran gently over the ornate metal-on-stone water feature running the length of the room, spilling in soft, eddying spirals into the basin beneath. Orchids decorated the shelves that housed the bath soaps and towel warmers, and every fixture was made of the same antique brass that must have been painstakingly maintained over decades to achieve such a well-worn yet even patina. In the center of the room sat a massive claw-foot bathtub…

…and sitting inside that bathtub was Shu Sakamaki, eyes closed, fully-clothed, and utterly motionless within the still water.

_Is he okay???_

I stood and stared at him from just beyond the threshold, unsure of what to make of things. He didn’t look _terrible,_ exactly, but he certainly wasn’t moving in any way I could see. He didn’t even seem to be breathing.

 _Reiji would have mentioned if he was…_ dead, _wouldn’t he?_

Unless, and knowing him this was certainly a possibility, Reiji didn’t really think of it as a problem. I stared at the tray in my hands, wondering whether or not I’d been bamboozled into agreeing to feed soup to a dead man. Unless of course _that_ was the problem I was supposed to be solving, in which case… in which case… maybe this was just temporary?

_Is that something vampires do, just die for a few hours at a time and then wake up like nothing ever happened?_

 “I can hear your heartbeat.”

I flinched so abruptly it was a damn miracle I didn’t drop the tray altogether, though the jolt did cause a few drops of the ruddy soup to slosh over the sides of the bowl.

“O-okay…” I said haltingly, “And that means?”

“It’s disturbing me.”

_What the hell— is being rude some sort of family tradition for these people?!_

“ _Okay then,_ I’ll make this quick,” I said, not really feeling like spending any more time on this than strictly necessary. I walked briskly over to the tub presented him with the tray. “Reiji made you lunch.”

There was no response.

“Shu,” I said, cutting into the silence, “Reiji made you lunch.”

“I’m… aware,” Shu mumbled.

 “So, are you going to eat it?” I pressed.

I waited for a reply, but the seconds ticked on without a word from the bathtub’s inert occupant.

“Shu,” I said.

No response.

“ _Shu_ ,” I repeated, a little more insistently this time.

Again, there was no response.

“ _Are you going to eat this?”_ I said, raising my voice.

The blonde’s eyelids opened just a crack. He glanced in my direction with a bored sort of irritation, his blue eyes reflecting the golden lights of the sconces behind me. Then not two seconds later he closed his eyes again, having declined to utter a single word.

 _God_ damn _it this guy is annoying._

Despite Shu’s claim that my presence had disturbed him, the vampire had so far avoided moving even an inch in his protestation. Even the water had failed to stir, serene and unperturbed by the body submerged within it.

_Alright, if this is how you’re going to play it…_

For want of a better option, I set the tray down on the floor next to the bathtub. I almost knelt beside it; then I realized ‘marble plus kneecaps equals _pain_ ’ and decided instead on pilfering one of the nearby bathing stools to use as a seat. If this was going to turn into a battle of attrition, then I was of a mind to make myself _fucking comfortable_.

So there I sat, leaning on the edge of the massive tub with my chin resting in my hands, staring at the man in the tub and wondering pensively what the hell I was doing with my life. After about five or six minutes, Shu’s blue eyes slid open with all the haste of molasses in January.

“You’re… still here…” he said, in a drowsy slur.

_Was he actually asleep?_

“Yeah, I’m still here,” I said. “Did you think I was just going to give up?”

“Hoped so…” said Shu, his eyes fluttering languidly closed once more.

“Sorry to disappoint,” I said, leaning closer and doing my best to keep his attention. If I could just get him talking, maybe I could figure out some way to get him to eat. Or, at the very least, to make it _seem_ like I’d gotten him to eat and prevent Reiji from eviscerating me on sight and funnel-feeding Shu my organs.

“What are you doing?” I said.

“Sleeping,” Shu mumbled.

 _Well I can fucking see that, moron,_ was what I wanted to say. As much as I would have loved to curse out the water-logged bastard, that wasn’t, shall we say, the “strategically viable” option. So I begrudgingly left acting out my rage-induced fantasies to another day.

“Sleeping?” I inquired instead, gritting my teeth through my smile.

“It’s not unusual,” he said.

“In the bathtub?” I asked.

“Water is relaxing.”

“So use the pool.”

“Bathroom’s closer.”

“To what?”

“My room.”

“Can’t you just sleep in there, then?”

“No.”

“Ah… okay,” I said, stuck.

_Maybe he just sleeps better in here?_

Doubting the soporific qualities of what appeared to be at most lukewarm bathwater, I poked the surface with my finger. The moment my skin made contact, I flinched back as if stung.

 _“_ This is freezing!” I said,

“It doesn’t _feel_ freezing,” said Shu.

“You’re serious?” I asked.

“It was warm when I got in,” he shrugged.

“Right…” I said.

“So it doesn’t feel cold now,” he said.

“… _right,”_ I said, trying to grapple with just how apathetic one person could be. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“I’m not going to drown,” he said.

“Not drowning,” I said, “I meant being this cold.”

“I’ve never heard of someone dying from being cold.”

“You’ve never heard of hypothermia?”

Shu paused for a moment, then amended his statement to:

“I’ve never heard of a vampire dying from being cold.”

“Oh… really?” I asked.

“Not once,” he said.

_Well that’s… useful information._

Unsure of where to take the conversation next, I hit a wall and we lapsed into silence again. I had figured if I managed to keep him interacting with me I’d get at least a chance at convincing him to eat,  and since mentioning the food directly brought all conversation to a screeching halt, I’d decided against the ‘direct approach.’  But somehow the conversation just kept creeping farther and farther away from the crucial topic, and at that point I was at a loss as to how to get us back on track.

And I’d thought _Reiji_ was hard to talk to. Hard to _communicate_ with _,_ sure, what with the insults and the talking over you and the frequent death threats and such. But with Shu it was damn near impossible just to keep the discourse flowing in the first place; once the momentum was gone, everything just fizzled out.

“Your heartbeat really is too loud,” Shu said suddenly.

“Well I can’t help that, can I?” I protested.

“It’s annoying,” he said with a grumble.

“Can you _actually_ hear my heartbeat,” I said, narrowing my eyes, “or is that your way of telling me to get lost?”

“I can hear it,” he assured me.

“Even with music playing?” I asked, gesturing to the ear buds attached to the strange little MP3 player attached to the choker around his neck.

“Heartbeats are distinctive,” he answered.

“Oh really?” I said, “I would have thought you’d hear your own first.”

“I do.”

“And?”

“Mine’s quieter.”

“Seriously?”

I yelped, almost pitching into the bathtub as Shu forcibly grabbed my hand and pressed my fingers to his throat just below his chin.

I felt a weird rippling sensation against my fingers, then nothing. Four or five seconds later, I felt It again.

“Is that your _pulse??”_ I asked.

“Yes,” he said, releasing my hand and settling back down into the water, “Now do you understand?”

“That you’re borderline catatonic?”

“ _Would you stop being so damn difficult?”_ Shu snapped.

I froze; I think he must have noticed the immediate spike in tension, because a moment later he grimaced and looked away.

“My heart rate is none of your concern,” he said, his tone markedly less harsh than it had been just a moment before, “but _comparatively_ your circulation is deafening.” He made an exasperated sigh. “All that rushing about under your skin…. I can’t be expected to ignore something like that.”

“If you’re hungry, then that’s kind of why I’m here.”

Shu turned and stared, and I knew I’d fucked up.

I’d been so focused on turning the conversation back to the subject of mealtime that I’d made the first logical connection I’d found. _Of course_ I’d make a mistake like that; the varying definitions of the word _food_ in a household full of vampires were bound to seep their way into my subconscious at some point. I just hoped Shu’s lackadaisical attitude extended to his feeding preferences.

 _Ah hell…_ _so much for not getting bitten today._

“It doesn’t make me hungry,” Shu said flatly, closing his eyes once more. “It’s just annoying.”

I let out the breath I had inadvertently been holding, thanking my lucky stars my careless word choice had been overlooked.

“So you’re not going to eat your lunch, then?” I asked, recovering my courage.

“I already answered that.”

“Then we’ve got a problem, now don’t we?” I said. “Because I’m not allowed to leave until you’ve eaten.”

“I’m not going to eat that,” Shu said flatly.

“What, do you think it’s poisoned?” I asked, reminded of what Laito had said about Reiji poisoning the meals of those who defied him.  If there’s anyone Reiji would poison, it was _definitely_ the person he was constantly referring to as “deadbeat” and “eyesore” instead of by name.

“No,” Shu said without hesitation.

 _“Okay then,_ what’s the problem?”

“I don’t want it.”

“I could get you something else.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Yeah, you said that,” I said.

_Wait a minute… was that really what he said?_

I pondered for a moment; then I realized my mistake. He hadn’t said he _wasn’t_ hungry. He’d said my heartbeat didn’t _make_ him hungry. Which means he didn’t misunderstand my unintentional offer –

He’d _refused_ it.

A vampire refusing to eat, sleeping near-comatose in a bathtub, who forgoes even the opportunity of consuming fresh human blood? I still didn’t know what was going on, but I could connect the dots. What was it that Reiji had said? “I don’t care if you have to force-feed him through a tube, you _make him_ eat it.”

Even though I didn’t understand the situation perfectly yet, but somehow, I knew that _this_ was the problem I was supposed to be dealing with. It was as if a little crack had opened in the wall between the brothers’ reality and mine, and even if I didn’t fully understand the meaning of that realization, I was sure as hell going to keep digging until I figured it out once and for all.

“Alright,” I said, leaning on the edge of the tub with a sigh. “What can I do to get you to eat something?”

“I still don’t see how it’s your concern,” Shu muttered.

“Reiji threatening to disembowel me is concern enough, don’t you think?”

“He threatened to _disembowel you?”_ Shu asked, his eyes finally opening all the way.

“More or less,” I said with an ambivalent shrug

“Sounds like him…” Shu said. Then he sighed. “Fine, but I have a condition.”

“So you _are_ going to eat something, then?” I asked, grinning.

“ _If_ you agree to my terms,” he said, a coy smile playing on his lips that was downright sinister in effect.

_I’m going to regret this…_

“I’m listening,” I said.

“Get in the tub.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 will follow in a few days. Some last minute revisions are needed. Sorry.


	12. Music and Heartbeats Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continued from Ch 11.

“Get in the tub.”

I stared at him.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“If you’d rather take your chances with my brother…” Shu didn’t finish the thought; he didn’t have to.

_If it’s this or evisceration…_

“ _Fine,_ I get the picture,” I said, untying my apron. As I slipped my dress off over my head I was immediately aware of Shu’s eyes lingering on my exposed skin.

“What a lascivious woman,” he smirked, sounding more amused than critical, “Did you think I was making you a proposition?”

“What?” I said, taken aback, “ _No,_ I – ”

“—or do you make a habit of disrobing in front of men you’ve barely met twice?”

“That’s not the point at all!” I said, suddenly very aware of my skin and the precise way the dark blue of my undergarments looked in the dim bathing room lights. “I have to have _something_ dry to change into,” I said hotly, color rising in my cheeks. “Excuse me for trying to be practical!”

Shu laughed, a soft, tremulous sound that matched his lilting speech, and I was surprised to see his eyes creasing up at the sides in a show of honest amusement.

“ _Practicality,_ ” he said, “And you’re also fond of wasting time, I assume?”

I made a face, folding my arms over my chest and staring pointedly at the water.

“Your legs are in the way.”

“And?”

“Well I can’t… I mean there’s no room.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” He sighed, closing his eyes once more as that coy grin played on his lips.

I took a deep breath and tried very, _very_ hard not to slap him in his drowsy, entitled face. Then with one last attempt to calculate the weight of my own idiocy, I placed one foot carefully to one side of Shu’s legs and climbed my way, shivering, into the tub.

“Ok-kay,” I said, forcing the words out past my tongue through chattering teeth, “I’m-m in the t-tub n-now…”

Shu’s eyes flicked open, a little faster than they had before; I fancied I saw a little surprise cross his countenance at the sight.

Or perhaps it was just more indignation, because a moment later he rolled his eyes and said “Lie _down_.”

“Ex- _cuse_ m-me?”

“Your standing there is… troublesome.”

“It’s f-fucking freezing in here!” I exclaimed.

“Perhaps you should have considered that before disrobing,” Shu chided, his questing gaze lingering on my hips and chest before sauntering its way up to meet my eyes.

If I’d had any heat left in my body, it would have gone to my cheeks.

“F-fine then,” I said, finally breaking eye contact, “But you b-better eat after th-this.”

Sinking myself into the chilled water was jarring enough, never mind Shu’s wandering eyes that glided over me with unabashed satisfaction. To my unfortunate surprise, the slope of the tub’s bottom and sides made it impossible to fit two people comfortably; as a result, I ended up having to practically lay down on top of him. Self-conscious though I was, I was chilled too thoroughly to even consider puling away, and so I clung to Shu's meager warmth to ward off the pervading cold.

“What n-now?” I asked.

“You relax,” Shu answered.

“Ok-kay…” I said, trying to decide if there was anything menacing behind the word “relax” in “Sakamaki speak,” as I’d dubbed the brothers’ rather oppressive lexicon that could make even the most innocent of phrases entirely sordid in the space of a breath.

But if there was anything sinister in Shu’s connotation, he didn’t act on it. Minutes ticked by, and not so much of a word passed between us. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’d ever done, granted, but it wasn’t exactly unpleasant either; after a while, even the water’s chill was something to which I grew accustomed. For want of a better option I’d lain my head on his chest, and his slow murmuring heartbeats flowed by at the edge of my hearing like water over a distant falls. It was peaceful, this pastime of Shu’s; despite the water and the chill, the sheer tranquility of the experience more than made up for these iniquities. As the minutes passed, I began to see why this environment would appeal to someone as lackadaisical to the extreme as the eldest brother Sakamaki.

After a while Shu’s hand slid onto my back; I was about to tell him off for it, but when I looked up, Shu’s eyes were closed, his head half-tilted to the side, lips parted ever so slightly as a whisper of breath passed between them in a slow but steady rhythm. Damn it if he wasn’t just a little bit handsome, laying there in unguarded repose under the warm, flickering lights. To be honest, the hand around my waist wasn’t entirely unwelcome; at least he was warmer than the water, and I felt a little more of the chill leave my bones as I settled in to his embrace.

I had almost nodded off when Shu inhaled sharply. His eyes fluttered open, and he looked at me as though he hadn’t remembered I was there.

“Rie… can you… push the button…?” he mumbled.

“The button?” I asked, blushing a bit. It was the first time he’d called me by name.

“On… the player,” he answered.

“Okay… why?”

“Playlist’s over.”

“Ah. Right,” I gently reached up to click the button with the triangular ‘play’ symbol in the middle. “What are you listening to?”

“Music,” he said.

“What kind?”

“Just music,” he repeated.

_Cryptic much?_

“Can I listen, then?” I asked, intrigued.

Shu smirked, almost as if he’d just made a joke at my expense and was enjoying the fruits of his labors.

“If you like…” he said, tilting his head just enough to allow me to grab the earbud.

I placed the device in my ear: The sound on the other side was rhythmic and hollow, bearing more resemblance to atmospheric noise than a musical composition; for a moment I wondered if this was some sort of avant-garde experimental piece. Then I heard a woman moan, and heat rushed to my face as I realized exactly what I was hearing.

“ _This_ is what you’re always listening to?” I asked.

“Not exactly what you were expecting?” Shu asked. His eyes were fully open for a change, and he stared at me with a curious sort of expression, as if he were waiting for something to happen.

“Not really,” I admitted. “When you said ‘music’ I was kind of thinking Mozart.”

“So it is not what you would consider to be music… yes?” asked Shu, his expression suddenly and inexplicably inscrutable.

“I didn’t say that,” I said, handing him back the earbud, “Maybe it’s not my taste, but I wouldn’t say it’s definitely _not_ music.”

“Do you really believe that?” said Shu in monotone.

“Sure,” I said.

“I don’t think you do.”

“What?”

“You’re _lying_ ,” said Shu, the words as sharp as daggers on his lips.

His blue eyes had gone cold, a layer of ice forming over an autumn lake. The sudden change in atmosphere was palpable.

_Where the hell did this come from?_

“If I was lying,” I said, choosing my words carefully, “I don’t remember choosing to.”

“And yet you did so anyway,” said Shu, his voice biting and pitiless as he pulled away from me, averting his eyes in apparent disgust. “You have no interest in me or my musical tastes, but you still attempted to mislead me for the sake of your own self-preservation.”

“Shu, I—”

“Lying is your only option. It’s a biological necessity.” His voice grew colder and more bitter with every phrase. “ _Foolish woman._ You seem to think yourself capable of escaping the natural hegemony of a superior species by force of will alone. You insist you’re acting of your own volition, and yet here you are, quaking in fear and consenting to my every demand.”

Shu scoffed, turning to glare in my direction But as our eyes met, the rage left his countenance for a split second, leaving something empty and bitter in its wake. Then in the next instant it was gone, the anger returned, and he looked away once more.

“Is it any wonder we detest your kind?” Shu said. “Don’t speak to me again unless you enjoy being beaten for your insolence.”

I stayed very still as he finished speaking, letting the weight of his words wash over me like the incoming tide. Carefully I sorted through everything he’d said from start to finish. Then I made my decision.

“Shu,” I said, sitting up. “You’re an ass.”

“ _Excuse me?”_ Shu said, staring at me with all due indignation, but I wasn’t buying it. There was something wrong with the image of Shu as “tyrannical vampire overlord,” especially when superimposed with that of “guy who asks a girl to sleep with him and then _actually falls asleep.”_ Whatever had caused this sudden shift in attitude, Shu was starting to look like an actor trying to cold-read someone else’s lines, and this audience of one wasn’t buying his performance.

“Did I stutter? I said you’re an ass.” I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow. “What, did you expect a different response, _oh great master vampire of the watery grave?”_

“I didn’t mean—"

“Since when do _you_ get to decide when I’m _quaking in fear?_ ” I said. “News flash: It’s a _fucking ice box_ in here. Quaking is what I’m _supposed_ to be doing, or did you somehow miss that little fact of human biology when you were deciding which of us is genetically superior?”

“That’s not how I—"

“Oh _right,_ I suppose you don’t bother with any of that, silly me. Who needs facts when you can have opinions and _de-facto natural hegemony?”_

“ _Why are you so damn irritating?”_ Shu moaned, drawing his knees up to his chest and covering his face with his hands _._ “I just wanted to get some sleep, why are you making that so fucking _complex_??”

“I’m not the one who started making accusations,” I said, my tone just ever so slightly softer than before. Admittedly my anger had begun to convert itself into concern at that point, but I wasn’t about to let him off the hook just yet. “How did you _think_ I was going to react?”

“You still don’t understand your situation here, do you?” he said miserably.

“Understand…?” I asked.

“That it’s _hopeless.”_ Shu said, staring back at me with a look so strained it hurt just to watch. “Did you honestly think this was the first time someone has been sacrificed to us?”

“So there were others,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

“Of course there were. And what do you think _happened_ to them, that they were just released on good behavior?” He laughed weakly. “The lucky ones just died of blood loss; the unlucky ones had their worlds shattered, their minds broken, and _then_ they died of blood loss.

“Most try run; the triplets enjoy them the most. Some bargain, offering wealth or status or even their own family members in exchange for their release: my _irritation_ of a brother seems to like breaking those fools in particular.

“Then there’s _your_ type,” he said. “You’re naïve. You think you can appeal to our values, our empathy, that if you can just get us to _like_ you we’ll let you go. But it’s not possible, it’s _never_ possible. It doesn’t matter how hard you fight, or how diligently you work, or how many times you pray for someone to save you. We always win, every damn time; all you’re doing is delaying the inevitable.

“Nothing will come of trying to appeal to the humanity of the inhuman,” Shu said, staring down into the water, “Nothing ever has.”

_He’s actually ashamed of all this, isn’t he?_

Suddenly Shu’s actions started making a whole lot more sense. I had to admit, I’d been skeptical of his motivations at first; it had been a lot easier to believe that Shu was just as dogmatically anti-mortal as the rest of them, even if he was a lot more apathetic about putting those beliefs in practice. But when I’d first arrived at the manor, Shu had saved me _twice_ in the space of five minutes, first when he stopped Reiji from ripping out my heart and then again when he declared me politically strategic enough to keep alive in the long-term.

“You just proved yourself wrong, you know,” I sighed, shifting closer to him.

“I’ve done no such thing,” he said. Shu still wouldn’t look at me, but I noticed he didn’t try to pull away. Granted, that might have also been because the size of the tub made it damn near impossible to move very far in the first place

“Because you’re actually concerned.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re trying to get me to realize how intractable my captivity here is, aren’t you?”

“I’m not— Yes but—I’m not doing it for your benefit,” he stammered. I could have sworn he was blushing.

“Well, whatever your reason is, it’s still sweet of you.”

“That’s… _your_ opinion.” He turned away.

 _Now he’s_ definitely _blushing._

“I do appreciate it, though,” I said, covering his hand with mine. “I’d imagine you get a lot of folks who just can’t face that on their own. Still… You’re a few weeks too late, you know.” I traced circles on the back of his hand with my fingers, aware of his eyes lingering on my face. “I’ve already done so much mourning for my life that Chekov himself would’ve told me to go fuck off and smell the roses. But just because I have about as much control over my fate as the average death row inmate doesn’t mean I have to act like it; I’ve got nothing to prove by being morose all the time, you know?”

“You’re being depressingly practical about all this,” he said.

“I don’t really have a choice, now do I?” I smiled.

“So you admit that you’re acting in self-defense?”

“ _No,_ I don’t.” I rolled my eyes. “Why the hell did we even start talking about this? What did I say that was so hard to believe?”

“Trying to convince me you think erotica is musical is a start,” Shu said with an eye roll of his own.

“So you don’t think it is?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then why were we arguing about this in the first place?” I groaned. “I already said I agree with you.”

“And your agreement means nothing because of your _position.”_

“Even if it’s sincere?” We stared at each other for a moment. I think I wore him down a bit, because after a long moment he said:

“Give me one reason to believe your agreement was genuine.”

I gave it some though.

 “John Cage,” I answered.

“What?” He looked surprised. I don’t think he actually expected he to think of something.

“Have you heard of him?”

“Maybe…” he said. He was being coy about it, but there was a glint in his eye, as if he were expecting something brilliant. I only hoped I could deliver.

“He’s the music theorist who wrote and entire silent concerto to challenge people’s definitions of music,’ I said. “He deconstructed the concept of musicality to prove that even silence could be music if you look at it right. And that was the 1950s, so it’s not exactly new theory we’re dealing with here.

“And maybe he wasn’t thinking about erotica _specifically,”_ I continued, “but I don’t see any reason why his theory can’t apply here. There’s nothing more inherently musical about a symphony than a sex scene, and when you think about it that way –"

“You don’t even need to go that far,” Shu said.

“I… don’t?” I asked.

“The logic of 4’33” is not to disprove the non-musicality of silence,” he said “but to prove the musicality of environment. Each recording is unique, the unique sound of that specific audience in that particular place and time.”

 _So he does know it, huh?_ I couldn’t help but smile. Turns out, random music history facts have their uses, after all.

“Cage’s work echoes the Dadaists in their mutual attempts to free the definition of their respective art from the confines of intentional composition. But in this case, your counter-discursive reasoning isn’t even necessary. Erotic audio derives entirely from _intentional_ compositional arrangement, the only difference being in the relative level of controversy.”

Shu’s words flowed effortlessly, as if it were a speech he’d given countless times before. It was a bit strange, seeing such a dispassionate man moved to fits of discourse in the space of a breath. But the look suited him. His eyes were alight, and he moved and spoke as if the words had given him new life as they passed from his lips.

 “The script provided to the actors constitutes the score,” he explained, “and the humans who produce the sounds are the instruments on which the symphony is played. There are separate movements, variations in tempo, codas, crescendos, and of course a finale. Erotic composition has much more in common with traditional musical forms than with any of Cage’s highly auteur works; it’s practically banal in comparison. And yet… in effect… how such sounds can move a body from stillness to excitation; how the music of humanity’s intimacy can quicken the blood and bring color to even the coldest cheek… it’s a peculiar kind of magic that defies critical understanding. Well,” he chortled, “ _conventional_ critical understanding, anyway.”

 “Your evidence is faulty,” he concluded. “Still… you aren’t… entirely wrong, I guess.” Something lifted off his countenance as he spoke, and a soft smile played across his lips and tugged at the corner of his eyes. He looked mighty pleased with himself; he looked mighty pleased with me.

 _Note to self: Shu really,_ really _loves music._

“You’re going to get your way this time,” he sighed, “Lucky you.”

“My way…” I repeated, a tad confused. “About what exactly?”

“Your request,” he said, bemused at my forgetfulness. “Our wager. You’ve done your part; least I can do is follow through with my end. Although….” He looked at me sideways. “You do realize I have no interest in mortal food, right?”

I actually laughed.

“How did I know this wouldn’t be that easy?” I said.

“You can always refuse.”

I stared at him, aware that his words had just confused me but having no idea as to the reason. Then I realized: Shu had actually offered me a _choice._

“I guess… I don’t really mind” I said, moving closer and shivering a little as the cool air made contact with my wet skin. “You really do need to eat something, you know. As long as you’re careful, it’s okay.”

“You’re sure about this?” he asked, pressing a hand to the side of my face. My stomach fluttered; I hadn’t expected something so gentle. His gaze was oddly sweet, perhaps even sentimental, and it did terrible things to my heartbeat which I was entirely certain he could hear with perfect acuity.

“I’m sure,” I said, the words a whisper culled by quickening breath.

Shu straightened his legs and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me onto his lap with more care than I’d expected. I looped my own arms around his neck, running my fingers through his hair, and a faint blush colored his face as I pressed my lips to his cheek.

He began to kiss my neck, his lips tracing an arc down to my breast and back up again, setting my skin alight with every touch. I shivered, wrapping my legs around his back, and I giggled as he gave a shiver of his own in response.

“You’re too tense,” Shu said, his cool breath tickling my skin as he tucked his head into the curve of my neck and breathed deeply. “It hurts more if you’re tense.”

“I’m not the only one,” I teased, running my fingers along the back of his neck.

“Troublesome woman…” he muttered, lips brushing against my skin one final time before his sharp teeth pierced me through.

It was nothing like the first time I’d been bitten. No tearing or agonizing shocks, just a bit of sharp pain and a dull, pulsing ache from the place where Shu drew blood from my neck in slow, languid swallows.

He drew me closer, the hand on my waist tightening, strength and sweetness caressing me all as one. I slipped my hand under his shirt, dragging my nails lightly across his back as I rocked my hips, and he shuddered and moaned into our embrace. I laughed softly at that, then gasped myself as he ran his hand down over my hips and thigh before slipping beneath the fabric of my underwear to touch the skin beneath. A pleasant warmth began to spread through me, and I curled my fingers through his soft blonde hair and pulled him closer still, savoring the delicate simplicity of desire.

Then suddenly Shu jerked, and with a gasp he forced me away. I clutched the wound in my neck, startled.

“Shu… what’s—"                                                   

Shu had pressed himself tightly against the back of the tub, his hands clasped over his neck and throat as though something had choked him. His eyes had gone blood-red, and they stared wildly as he trembled, gasping, his posture contorted in agonized tension.

“W-what’s happening?” I asked, my voice quivering.

 _“_ Reiji… must have… done something _,”_ Shu rasped, clutching so tightly to his throat that blood began to pool around his fingertips.

“ _Done_ something?” I said, alarmed. “What’s going on? What’s happening to you?”

But Shu didn’t answer; I’m not sure he could have if he tried. His breathing was labored, as if he were fighting for every breathe. With a moan he doubled over, and without thinking I put my hand on his shoulder.

His head snapped up, eyes glowing, and before I could react he’d seized me with hands far stronger than any human’s and forced me against the side of the bath. Suddenly he was biting into my throat with a force so hard my whole body shook from the pain; I tried to scream and force him off me, pulling at his hair and shoving against his shoulders with all my strength, but it was no use. As vision began to waver the power in my blood began to spark, and tears welled in my eyes as I felt the hideous charge building in my veins that I knew I would have no strength to suppress. Another few seconds of this, and one of us was going to end up dead.

But it never came to that. Shu must have regained some small measure of control, because just as quickly as I had been seized I was released. Shu clambered out of the tub as fast as he was able, soaked and shivering, before slipping on the slick stone floor and falling to his knees.

“Get out, get out, get out, _just please gods get out,”_ he begged, clutching his head.

I stared at him, the words echoing around in my head but finding no purchase in my understanding. Blood was still streaming out of the wound on my neck, too much blood, and I was fading away under the strain. I weakly pressed my hand over the wound, the blood seeped between my fingers and running down over my breasts and stomach before spilling into the water below. I stared at the red, luscious red, beautiful red, seeping through the clearness and staining everything it touched. It was beautiful, I though, uncommonly so…

 “Get out!” Shu screamed, startling me out of my complacency. He started at me, red eyed flashing, but lost his strength and fell against the side of the tub, breathing in ragged, shallow gasps.

I panicked, climbing over the side in a desperate attempt to get free of the bath; but the blood loss had wrecked my coordination and I slipped. My head smacked against the marble floor, vision fading to grey as I crawled numbly towards the exit. Shu’s cries rang in my ears as I pulled myself up on the doorframe, my only incoherent thoughts of moving farther and farther away from the source of the danger. Slipping out into the hall I shuffled on, teetering on the edge of oblivion, as I felt l my way half-blind along the corridor wall towards safety.

I didn’t even notice the stairs. The banister barely registered, a flicker of form manifesting in the corner of my eye before blinking out of existence. A moment later my legs were no longer below me, and for one blissful, ignorant moment I was as weightless as the air itself.

Then my head collided with the landing, and everything was darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! Sorry this is a bit late. Turns out, rewriting takes time - who knew?


	13. **Special Bonus Content** -- A Message From Beyond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Special Bonus Content for "The Witch-Maid of House Sakamaki"

Someday, somewhere, off in some dark and largely un-populated corner of the multiverse, a message crackles out over a device that could easily be mistaken for a transistor radio:

_Hauntings: strange and unsettling occurrences that can fascinate as much as terrify. The idea of a ghost sharing space with you or a loved one might sound like a nightmare; indeed, for many years the entertainment industries, have capitalized on the unease of the general public, sensationalizing the dearly departed to amuse, bemuse, and turn a hefty profit in the meantime._

_While many people fear their local post-life neighbors will turn on them and attack, the souls of the deceased are more often the victims of violence and exploitation than the perpetrators of it._

_The abduction and confinement of human souls is a serious crime and a grave violation of spirit’s rights. Soul trafficking poses a real threat to the noncorporal populations of all Veil-traversable realms; every year, thousands of souls fall into the hands of traffickers despite the best efforts of trans-dimensional law enforcement._

_But you can help to stop this egregious exploitation and make every world a safer place in which to die. Learn about the many ways that spirits are victimized and help educate those, living and non-living, around you. Meet with your planet’s dimensional representatives and let them know you support anti-trafficking legislation that helps to eliminate the financial benefits of post-mortem exploitation. And if you see a soul you believe to be victimized, speak up and help end the cycle of complacency._

_If you or a loved one know of a soul or souls being held against their will, the Reaper Agency encourages you to seek help. Contact an associate through your local medium or occult practitioner, and we’ll handle the rest._

_The Dark Star Reaper Agency is a fully-functioning psychopompic organization whose purpose is the express protection and transportation of recently de-corporealized soulforms (commonly referred to as “the dead”). The Agency also provides explicit protection and counseling services to any and all souls who elect to remain in a mortal realm for an allotted term as outlined in the civil rights section of the Many Worlds Alliance._

The line crackles, and a short theme tune warbles out of the not-quite-radio's boxy speakers. The message continues:

_This has been a message from Twin Stars Afterlife Alliance. "Twin Star: It might not be heaven, but it’s the closest thing we could think of."  
_

The device falls silent, the not-quite radio hovering a few feet in front of its two listeners.

“Is that for us?” says the one to the other in a voice that cannot be heard.

“It’s not for us,” says the other with certainty.

“You sure?" says the one, "Because it sounded like –"

There is no air, but the thought of a dramatic sigh rolls through the one’s head at the implication.

“The message specifically mentioned mortals,” says the other, “Do you _see_ any mortals around here?”

“Well,” the one says, shifting about in alter-dimensional irritation, “pass it on, then.”

The other smiles in satisfaction, and a many-fingered hand waves the not-radio out of existence with a satisfied, though utterly imaginary, " _pop"._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovelies.  
> So as you may have noticed, a new chapter very conspicuously did not appear this October. So sue me, I've been busy. Since my schedule for November is similarly overflowing, I've thrown together a bit of bonus content to keep y'all sated until I can get back to posting my regular updates.  
> If I can, I'll get another chapter up before December rolls around. If not, I'll be throwing up little mini-chapters whenever I have a few hours to write. Think of them like those little non-cannonical shorts at the end of manga volumes.  
> See you on the flip,  
> A
> 
> P.S. For information on how you can help stop human trafficking, visit the State Department's website [here](https://www.state.gov/j/tip/id/help/).


	14. Subaru's Rescue (Part 1)

_The darkness swallows, but the light feels no remorse. I stare at the dead body of my wife with hollow eyes. It is… strange. I mourn for someone I did not love, and yet her body is not what pains me._

_Shu will no longer speak to me. Leaning against the doors of the crypt, his skin far too pale, his eyes far too stark and sunken. He is refusing blood, Cordelia says, and though she insists it is a recent change the evidence of my own eyes says otherwise._

_And Reiji… he stands behind me with ice in his gaze and will not say more than is utterly necessary._

_“You will not tell me why she died?” I say, the tense words spoken in a language no one but our clan has cared to remember for a thousand generations._

_“I wished her dead,” my son replies curtly, “therefore she has died. Need I a better reason?”_

Still he lies to me…

_I turn to him. His violet eyes are coarse with resolve, cold and threatening behind wire-rimmed spectacles. Cold like his mother’s… but far, far more clever._

_I watch as Reiji lays a token bone in the casket with the corpse. The skull of a goose._

Revenge.

_I stare at the stonework that lines my dead wife’s family crypt. Figures dance and play their scenes, depicting the lives and deeds of vampires even the oldest of our kind can scarcely remember._

_Perhaps it’s best to forget the reality of that which once was. Life is never so glorious in the living of it. But memory… memory shines._

_Tomorrow, Shu travels for France. Subaru is yet touring the countryside. By next month Reiji will be studying in England._

_Cordelia will protect her children, and Christa… does not wish to see me._

_Perhaps it’s time I left them to their own devices._

I woke up outside.

A dense fog blanketed the grounds of the estate, the late-evening mist clinging to the grass and trees like the desperate arms of a screaming child clinging to his mother’s skirt. The last sliver of the crescent moon hung jaundiced in the sky, wan light shivering through the mist and casting strange, drawn shadows across the countryside. Even in the dim, I could still make out the dark stretch of road that wound its way up through the greenery to the front walk.

Strange. I didn’t _remember_ going outside. The last thing I recalled, I was bringing Shu lunch and then…

_Oh. Right._

I groaned. Having your neck bitten through isn’t exactly good for your health; falling down the stairs won’t do you any favors, either. Granted, if I managed to get myself out here without dying, I must not have been _too_ badly injured. After hitting the ground floor, it was possible I’d found my footing and stumbled out the door, only to black out before I’d made it past the front porch.

I tried to sit up, then shuddered as a sharp agony rippled outward from the side of my head like the deep, undulating tone of a freshly struck gong and my lungs caught and seized sporadically as they refused to fill with air.

“ _Fuck,”_ I hissed through clenched teeth. I gasped my way through a few shallow breaths, the pain echoing further throughout my neck and shoulders with every meager inhale as my vestibular senses spun and the world went sideways.

“Stay still…” said a gruff voice from behind my left ear.

My head was in someone’s lap. I tried to turn towards the voice by shifting my shoulders, only to be greeted by a sharp stabbing in the side of my neck and the viscid ripping of a young scab being torn apart.

“I said ‘stay still,’ moron,” the voice growled. A hand pressed down hard on the side of my head, and I sucked air to keep from screaming.

There was a strange pulsing sensation, and my muscles tensed as I sensed a volatile aura pressing in around my head. For a moment I thought I was being attacked; however, as soon as the energy touched my skin it settled, cooling significantly. The aura rippled across my cheek, sliding like raindrops over my neck and shoulders and winding its way down my torso where it settled, pooling like spring water in the pit of my stomach. My dizziness began to clear, and the pains in my neck and head began to ease away as tendrils of the cool, watery energy curled around my limbs.

Then the hand lifted from my head, taking the energy with it.

“You can get up now.”

I sat up slowly, wary of my previous ill-fated attempt at doing the same, but besides the fading bruise-like ache in my left side and a healthy dose of fatigue, I seemed to be otherwise alright. I turned around. Behind me, a pink-haired vampire sat on the edge of the landing, biting his lip and scowling at nothing in particular.

 “ _Subaru?”_

The youngest Sakamaki clicked his tongue and glared in my direction as he leveraged himself up off the step. His pink hair was falling down around his eyes, posture set in that permanent slouch of his that always made him seem a head shorter than he actually was.

Subaru turned to look at me over his shoulder, his crimson eyes nearly luminescent in the dark of the evening as his eyes flicked over my form. It was as if he were looking for something.

Then he fixed his gaze on the door behind me and stretched out his hand.

I looked down at myself. Although I’d been covered with a leather jacket, presumably Subaru’s, beneath it I was wearing nothing but my blue, bloodied, still-slightly-damp bra and panties.

 _Oh for fuck’s sake…_ again??

“We really have to stop meeting like this, yeah?” I said, color rising to my cheeks.  I pulled the jacket up over my chest with one hand and accepted his aid with the other.

Subaru scoffed, rolling his eyes as he brought me to my feet. Then I yelped as something large and softish was shoved into my arms so hard I nearly toppled over.

I looked down. In my hands was a brown paper bag, the kind you’d get at the supermarket. I unfurled the crumpled up top and peered inside. At the bottom was a set of undergarments that looked suspiciously like my own and a girl’s private school uniform. 

“Put it on,” said Subaru.

“Ah… sure…” I said, eying him suspiciously.

He snorted irritably, then flicked his eyes over me one last time before walking off down the drive.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“ _Just put on the damn clothes!”_ he snarled, sharp teeth flashing as he shot me one of those trademark Sakamaki _do-as-I-say-or-else_ glares.

Then he disappeared, vanishing in that eerie stage-magician way the brothers seemed to favor when they weren’t up to making a proper exit.

“Out _here?!”_ I called, to no one in particular. Naturally, no one answered.

_That trick’s really starting to get on my nerves…_

I thought about refusing. I _really_ thought about refusing. But in the end, I decided it was best to get it over and done with _before_ the cranky one decided to come back and make me regret my hesitation. Given the way these situations usually turn out in the Sakamaki household, I’d be lucky if all Subaru asked me to do was strip bare.

I did a quick three-sixty and, seeing no one in the vicinity, deftly slipped the skirt over my hips and the shirt over my head before maneuvering out of my underwear and into the clean set. The whole process took about forty seconds, and by the end of it I felt decidedly less exposed to the elements.

 _At least_ something _I learned in high school drama club’s paying off…_

I decided to forgo the necktie – it’s not like anyone was enforcing a dress code – and settled for slipping on the blazer and wrapping it around myself for warmth. It was a little unsettling how precisely the clothes fit, especially considering that it’d been years since I’d worn anything like this.

I sat there for a few moments, staring out at the gloom. I hadn’t expected Subaru to show up – not that I'd expected anyone _else,_ but despite being one of the less habitually sadistic of the brothers he has always been a bit too irritable to consider friendly. The healing magic was also a bit of a shock, coming from him. Medical magic is notoriously difficult to master, requiring both extensive knowledge and no small amount of finesse to perform properly. I’d have thought such a mercurial discipline would be of no interest to a functionally immortal self-healing vampire. And yet, from the look and feel of my wounds, Subaru had both.

First teleportation, now healing – who knows what other tricks the Sakamaki brothers might have up their sleeves?

 _I should be careful not to underestimate them. Really,_ really _careful._

I’d just gotten around to guessing which one of the brothers was most likely to have measured me in my sleep (suspects in order of likelihood: Laito, Reiji, Kanato) when a large black SUV pulled around the front of the house and parked about a dozen feet away. The door to the driver’s side opened, and to my surprise it was Subaru who climbed out.

_Subaru drives his own car. Add that to the piled of things I didn’t expect._

I was surprised that Subaru, or any of the brothers for that matter, knew how to drive – I’d assumed that was one of those things rich people didn’t bother with, like laundry or paying taxes. When you’re a teleporting vampire with a small army of drivers and servants at your beck and call, what the hell do you need a license for, anyway? But it seemed like today I was destined to be awash in subverted expectations. I only hoped that none of those surprises turned out to be deadly.

I walked towards the car and held the jacket out to him.

“Thanks for the—"

“Get in the car,” Subaru ordered, snatching the jacket out of my hands.

“What— _why_?” I asked, glancing into the car with newfound trepidation.

“Don’t ask questions,” he ordered gruffly.

“ _Why?”_ I asked anyway.

“I told you to _get in the car,”_ he said, flinging the rear door open so hard I was afraid it would come off its hinges.

“Tell me where we’re going first,” I said, taking a step back.

“Get in the car,” he growled.

“ _No,”_ I said firmly. “Not until I know where— ”

 _“Just get in the car, will you?!”_ Subaru yelled.

“ _Why are you yelling at me?!”_ I yelled back.

A moment later, my feet were not longer touching the ground, and I yelped as Subaru picked me up by the waist and hoisted me over his shoulder like a sack of flour. Before I could ask what the hell he thought he was doing, Subaru took two steps toward the car and threw me into the back of the SUV and slammed the door shut with enough force to rock the car on its wheels.

“The hell??” I said, struggling towards and upright position.

A second later Subaru climbed into the drivers’ seat and put the key in the ignition.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror, then rolled his eyes.

_The fuck was that for??_

I was about to demand he tell me where we were going. Then Subaru hit the gas.

Suddenly I was thrown against the passenger seat as we reversed hard, my body turning sideways as Subaru spun the car 180 degrees and slammed to a stop. I groaned. My body was sandwiched between the front and back seats, legs half-folded, hips twisted awkwardly, one arm trapped between the seat and the door as I half-kneeled on the floor of the car.

“ _What the_ _fuck was that?!”_ I yelled. The car’s momentum had wedged my left arm in the tight space between the seat cushion and the door, and I yanked it free as I scrabbled around with my free hand for some sort of purchase I could use to leverage myself up out of seat well.

“ _Get over it,”_ Subaru said, slamming the gas pedal to the ground. The engine roared eagerly as the vehicle leapt forward, accelerating with unbelievable force as we flew down the driveway.

“Like hell!” I said, grabbing the seatbelt and passenger side headrest as I hurried. to pull myself up by as the car gained speed. Once my hips were freed I flipped myself around to face forward, lunging for the seat belt and scrambling to get it fastened before Subaru made another impossibly tight turn at-speed.

 _“Are you trying to kill us??”_ I said, my knuckles turning white as I clung to the door handle for dear life.

“Stop yelling, ehh??” Subaru growled as we swerved around a bend.

“Maybe if you’d stop _driving like a maniac_!” I said.

“My driving’s none of your fucking business–” said Subaru.

“Until you _kill us both,_ ” I said, bracing myself against the door, “then it’s certainly my fucking business–”

Suddenly Subaru slammed on the breaks, clicked off his safety belt, and turned all the way around in his seat to face me.

“Either _shut up_ ,” he said, fangs bared and eyes flashing with a dangerous heat, “or I’ll tear out your tongue and _fucking make you._ ”

_Somehow I don’t think he’s joking…_

 “Okay…” I said slowly, holding up my hands and leaning back into my seat, “okay.” For a long moment I stayed very, very still. Subaru stared at me for a few seconds more, then growled and turned back around towards the road. My fingers found the grab handle once more, and I exhaled as the car started moving again.

The drive through the mountains was rough, _very_ rough, but after twenty more minutes of not dying I had begun to get used to the excessive speed and the drastically sharp turns. For once I was actually glad my captor wasn’t human – Subaru’s preternaturally sharp reflexes were likely the only thing keeping us alive.

Or rather, keeping _me_ alive. I was beginning to doubt the threat a car accident could pose to a vampire’s life. Hell, it might not even slow them down. Suddenly those news stories about people “miraculously” surviving high-speed car crashes seemed a little too good to be true.

Despite the driver’s generally maniacal driving habits, the interior of Subaru’s SUV was surprisingly comfy. The cabin was decked out in finely stitched black leather, and the console was trimmed in a dark woodgrain shot through with silver metal that reminded me of the pinstriping on a bespoke suit. There was a second row of seats behind the one I’d been tossed into, and both first and second rows looked wide enough for a person to lie down and take a nap if they’d had a mind. Compared to my aunt’s old Suzuki, which could either hold two people and a few bags of groceries or four people with little to no regard for personal space, Subaru’s SUV was the kind of car that made you realize the true meaning of the phrase “riding in style.”  It was a surprisingly nice car to be thrown into the back of.

_Leave it to a vampire to abduct a girl in a Lexus…_

I breathed a sigh of relief as we hit the city; the increase in traffic would force Subaru to cut his speed. The city lights glittered in the dark evening, painting streaks of color across the horizon as the streets pulsed and seethed with the early evening crowd. Ever-growing lines of shop patrons snaked from block to block, leading from shop to shop like the lines of a living subway map as the highway of bodies crisscrossed the landscape everywhere. A few dozen people thronged together in front of a curio shop as street performer danced to a Kenshi Yonezu song, the neon signs pulsing in asynchronous rhythm with the swaying crowd below. As I watched the crowds swimming around the inky black, flashing with giddy aplomb as they walked through streets awash in the kaleidoscopic fervor of the evening, I found myself smiling wistfully despite my circumstance. It was worth remembering that vampires aren’t the only ones who come out at night.

A few blocks past Kamina’s town center, Subaru pulled the car off to the side of the street in front of a restaurant with a red-and-yellow striped awning and killed the engine. He climbed out of the driver’s seat, and a moment later the door next to me was thrown open so violently I felt a little bad for the car.

“Out,” Subaru demanded.

I complied without protest, slipping out of my seatbelt and onto the street as quickly as I could. Without another word Subaru slammed the door shut behind me, grabbed my arm, and dragged me into the restaurant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day. I got you the first half of a chapter I should have had up months ago.  
> Three more updates should drop this month. If not, you have my full permission to curse my very existence and bind my essence to the task of completing more chapters.  
> See you on the other side,  
> N.E. (Anand)  
> P.S. It's 4 am. Do me a favor and drop me a comment if I made any egregious errors. Love you all, and thanks for waiting. <3


	15. Subaru's Rescue, Part 2

“Welcome to our restaurant!” said the young man behind the front counter with a bow. “How many will be… ah…” He trailed off as Subaru dragged me off towards a table without waiting to be seated. The man looked stupefied.

_You don’t even know the half of it._

I turned to look over my shoulder and smiled sympathetically at the host, who stared at us a decidedly twitchy expression before turning stiffly on his heels and striding off towards the back.

I could relate.

Subaru stopped dead in front of a small table near the front window. He turned, looked at me for a long moment as though he’d forgotten something, then awkwardly dropped my arm and sat himself down in nearest chair with a hard _thwack_. I stood next to the other chair, eying the seat as though it would bite me.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.  As much as I was grateful to be out of the house, and as much as I was thankful to Subaru for saving my life, there was still quite a lot of daylight between us in terms of trust.

“You stupid or something?” said Subaru, leaning his chair back on its hind legs, “We’re at a restaurant. Restaurants serve food.”

“What… kind of food?” I said. The vampire rolled his eyes.

“You’re not on the menu. Relax,” Subaru said. Then he added “And sit the fuck down, your hovering is bothering me.”

I sat quickly, lighting on the edge of my seat, conscious of the irreparable tension in my spine as my dining companion began to stare pensively out of the window. I stared at the vampire for a moment, watching him watch the world outside the restaurant’s bounds, my mind full to bursting with questions. But lacking the galls to ask them, I refrained from speaking and we lapsed into inoperable silence.

A few minutes later, Subaru was still scowling at the city as I drummed my fingers lightly on the edge of the table as I surveyed the restaurant. It was a rather nice place, all in all. Modestly upscale, with the clean-cut lines of the modernist décor offset by natural accents just enough to prevent the place from feeling cold. The dark wood furniture had been polished to a mirror-shine, and in spite of my predicament I found myself smoothing my skirt and jacket subconsciously. It was that kind of place.

_I wish there were more people…_

Not that it would have made much of a difference. But ever since I was a kid, I’d known that the more people were in a room the less likely something duplicitous was going to happen. The only exception to this was a space so packed you couldn’t see the walls; a room like that, and you can be damn sure something important was going to be missing the next time you checked your pockets.

But for the most part, a moderately crowded room was a vulnerable individual’s best defense against bad shit happening. Granted, if Subaru wanted to do something he’d likely not give a damn who saw; but the appearance of bystanders generally had a way to diffuse a situation.  

But moderately crowded it was not. Besides a light assortment of waitstaff, the only people present were a group of five young men drowning themselves in sake and a coupled sharing noodles three tables away. Anything we said could and would be overheard, and anything that happened would likely be over before anyone felt like interfering on my behalf.

In a perfect world, this would be the part where I’d escape. The captive slips a note to a waiter and the staff call the police. The rest of the novel would consist of their attempts to separate me from my kidnapper, conspiring in secret via notes slipped out with every order, perhaps culminating in some dramatic fight scene where one of the young drinking buddies valiantly fights off the attacker as I flee into the dark sanctity of the night. It would be a daring story of triumph and sacrifice, and in the end it would all be worthwhile.  

I heard a shout and looked, half-expectantly, at the group of young men in the back. Apparently, they had reached the bottom of the sake, because one of them was holding up his hand and was shouting “Excuuuuse meeee!” at their beleaguered waiter in an inebriated drawl. One was throwing peanuts into another one’s mouth, and another had fallen asleep at the table. I scowled.

_Yeah, didn’t think so…_

“Here are your menus!”

I jumped. A waitress had appeared next to our table, her long dark hair falling forward over her shoulders as she presented us with two nicely bound menu books. I flushed a bit.

“Oh, thank you,” I said, taking a menu.

“Hmph,” said Subaru, snatching one for himself.

The waitress was starting to look a little bashful, staring at Subaru with the crestfallen look of someone who’s just caused offense and has yet to understand why. I looked at her and smiled, in what I hoped was a gesture of reassurance, and our eyes met. Instantly I was transfixed. Her eyes had some delicate cast about them, some fragility with which I was unfamiliar. It was odd, though not in an inhuman way— they were just different, _definitively_ different, though for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why.

_I wonder…_

“Yakizakana and sake,” Subaru said abruptly, snapping me out of my reverie.

“Of course, sir,” said the waitress, taking back . He scowled.

 “Ah… Just a…” I said, flashing her another apologetic smile.

I hurriedly scanned the menu for something that seemed appetizing. Between Shu nearly biting my neck in half, falling down a flight of stairs, and the rather _unique_ experience of Subaru’s driving, I felt more like taking a nap than anything else. But I wasn’t _not_ hungry, truth be told, and the opportunity to get out of the house was too good to pass up.

My eyes drifted aimlessly over the menu, skimming through meal descriptions without really comprehending any of them. Before I knew it, I’d read the same section three times and still didn’t have any idea what was offered.

_“Just order already,”_ growled Subaru. My pulse started to creep skyward.

“Miso ramen?” I said quickly, figuring they’d have something that simple. Apparently my guess was correct, because the waitress smiled and began taking down my order in her notebook.

_Good,_ I thought, _I can stare at her some more._ So, I did. And suddenly I figured it out.

_Her eyes are brown._

Not a deep, ravenous crimson so full of bloodlust it makes you shiver… Not a green more iridescent than a thousand shattered emeralds and twice as sharp… Not a blue so watery you could drown, and not the treacherous, seductive purple of pressed lilac flowers…

Her eyes were brown. Just brown. Dark brown, the same dark brown found on every street corner of every town from here to Fukuoka. Average. Mundane. _Human._

I grinned in spite of myself. It’s funny how such a small thing can utterly brighten your day. As I watched her walk away, a gentle sense of elation began fluttering its way through my chest. It was nostalgia, somehow.

I wondered if that was how _I’d_ looked, back when the world made sense. Normal brown eyes, normal daily life. It was hard to believe that there was once a time when my life could have turned out like hers, my eyes as delicate and sensible as hers, back when my only concerns were club meetings and entrance exams and how Aunt Izumi would murder me if I skipped training again.

Sure, it was just one fleeting moment; and sure, I was probably and idiot to be so mollified by the experience. But after spending weeks in a house with only six irascible vampires and a bunch of dead people to keep me company, even a single moment of real human interactoin felt like wining the damn lottery.

“Get a fucking room, geeze,” Subaru growled, leaning back hard in his chair.

I blinked, coming out of my daze. After finishing our orders our waitress had left to tend to other customers; I suddenly realized that I’d spent the last few minutes staring mindlessly after her, chin resting on my hand as my gaze followed her around the room.

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business whom I stare at,” I said, crossing my arms and doing my best to look indignant despite my reddening cheeks.

_I hope I didn’t look like I was doing something creepy…_

“You’re acting creepy,” Subaru said flatly. My face grew hotter.

“ _You’re_ creepy,” I fired back.

“ _What was that?”_ he said with a snarl.

_“Be~!”_ I pulled down my eyelid and stuck out my tongue. Subaru’s eyes flashed, and for about half a second he looked like he was about come across the table and throttle me.

Then our food came.

Subaru froze mid-lunge as our waitress walked up to the table, mercifully oblivious as to the topic of our conversation, carrying a tray with our order on her arm. I smirked triumphantly as the vampire’s features seethed with unexpressed emotion.

“Hope you enjoy your meal!” the young woman said cheerily as she set the plates in front of us.

_Saved by the fucking bell._

Subaru made a frustrated noise and sat back hard in his chair, turning towards the window in a fit of ire as the waitress set a cup and sake flask beside the plate in front of him.

The woman shot me a slightly desperate look. I offered her another smile, added a “that’s just Subaru” shrug for good measure, and thanked her with what I hoped would be enough goodwill to make up for my dining companion’s lack of manors.

I slurped a few of the soft noodles, savoring the pleasant umami of the broth and the mad sweetness of victory all at once. I felt triumphant. How many times had the brothers gotten the best of me, to no recourse? But this time was different. This time I had _won._ No matter how small of a victory that might have been, I was determined to make it last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaack!
> 
> What took me so long? Well, _someone_ decided to be an idiot and take four courses at once over the summer while also being employed. So guess who had exactly zero time to write? But, I am emphatically back in business!
> 
> So dust off those reading glasses, my lovelies. Things are about to get _interesting_.


	16. Subaru's Rescue, Part 3

My spirits thoroughly brightened, I set about taking an inventory of my situation.

Physically, it seemed I was recovering at an agreeable pace. Thanks to that healing spell of Subaru’s, the worst of my injuries were behind me. Between Shu nearly biting my neck in half and taking the stairs the hard way, I was most definitely lucky to be alive. True, I was still more than a little lethargic; the taxing effects of healing spells combined with the utter insanity of Subaru’s driving meant that I felt less like eating out and more like taking a nap. But the powers of a good bowl of ramen are not to be underestimated, and after sipping on the broth and making a dent in the noodles I was beginning to feel like a person again.

Emotionally, I was also mostly in the clear.  I still wasn’t exactly okay with my situation, but any abject fear I’d felt for my situation had been fading slowly over the past few weeks. I’d have thought this latest incident would make me warier, more prone to distrusting and jumping at shadows. But despite the emotional rollercoaster ride that was my daily life, I was holding together fairly well. I think a childhood spent with my own Damoclean sword hanging over my head had given me a certain tact for dealing with near-death situations, skills that had been utterly useless during the past four years dead-end jobs, rent stress, and endless waiting for my fate to be decided by a family I would likely never see again.

In a way, the constant danger was made even more palatable by shear immediacy by which my fate would be decided. No politics, no maneuvering, no last-ditch efforts and second chances and waiting on word from Grandfather every time someone brought my name up at Council. No, from now on my life was in the hands of six strangers, each of whom could end my life in a second for any reason at all or none whatsoever. Now I was a tool, a plaything, whose actions were inconsequential and therefore unimportant. Whether or I lived or died was no longer a question; I was _going_ to die, at the hands of a vampire no less, and the only thing left to decide was how my life would be lived in the interim.

It was freeing, in a way. Existential terror will do that to you.

Admittedly, I was still _highly_ confused. The mental question marks were rapidly approaching infinity, with no sign of abating. Things had gone from bad to worse to worrisome, ending up at _downright insane_ and so far no one had bothered explaining a damn cent of it. Shu’s lack of appetite and sudden loss of control bothered me in extremis; my knowledge of vampire lore and society is not exactly comprehensive, but the fact that Reiji seemed at a loss to solve it was a definite cause for concern.

And that was another thing – Reiji’s _concern._ How the hell had he gone from openly suggesting I murder Shu in his sleep to anxiously pacing about with a food tray, beset with worry, in barely half a month? Maybe there was some dimension of the problem I was missing, some weird intrinsic reason Reiji had to keep Shu fed or else suffer the severest of consequences. But the look in his eyes… it was the same as the one he’d had that day in the dining room, when Reiji had demanded I be put down for everyone’s sake. There was rage, and pride, but also genuine worry and far too much pain for me to be comfortable contemplating. What the hell happened to him?

 _What the hell happened to_ all _of them?_

I looked across the table at my dining companion, who was fiddling with the pull tab on his zipper and avoiding looking me in the eyes. Subaru might just be the biggest question mark of all. Here was this walking powder keg of a kid, a living (or un-livng?) mass of angst and undirected rage, who suddenly showed remarkable restraint on the behalf of a dying girl he really, _thoroughly_ did not have to save. Subaru was the only Sakamaki I thought might legitimately murder me by accident. And yet here he was in a normal, human establishment, sharing a meal with me just minutes after saving my life.

My hand drifted to my newly scarred skin and rubbed absently. Healing magick is extraordinarily taxing, both for the one receiving the healing and for the person or persons administering it. It required unyielding focus, a steady hand, and a hell of a lot of raw talent to boot. To have performed something like this, and on a _human?_

_The amount of power it must have taken…_

I looked up from my meal, regarding at Subaru with newfound appreciation. The vampire was still ignoring me, staring emphatically out into the night with an exasperation that bordered on the homicidal.

_He looks like he wants to murder the sky._

I brought the bowl to my lips to conceal a sudden fit of giggles. Subaru’s quick temper made him far too easy to pick on, and now he was sulking in the most utterly excessive way possible. All I did was parrot his “creepy” insult back at him; yet he reacted as though I’d just called him a ‘pink-haired freak with zero social skills.’ Or maybe ‘the world’s only fanged tornado.’ Or even ‘property damage on legs.’

_Why do I never think of these things when I need them??_

I looked away, hiding my face in what was hopefully a casual manor as I tried to keep myself from laughing. Subaru might have a pension for violence and a zero-to-sixty temper, but he could be seriously cute when he wasn’t acting like an extra in a Yakuza movie.

I watched as Subaru finally picked up his chopsticks and began eating, attacking his grilled fish like it was out to get him. After a few mouthfuls he poured himself a cup of sake, downed it in one go, and began shoveling rice into his mouth.

_This guy even eats violently…_

I smiled, openly this time. Subaru looked up from his chow and scowled.

“Wuchu wan?” he said through another overlarge bite.

I shrugged. “Nothin,” I said, grinning. Despite his generally terrible attitude, Subaru had some startlingly earnest tendencies. It was endearing, and endlessly fascinating to watch.

Subaru swallowed his food and downed another cup of drink. Then he sat back, crossed his arms, and took a good long glower at my face.

“You want something,” he said.

I shrugged again. “Maybe I’m just thinking.”

“About?” he asked.

I was going to deflect again. But he was watching me more intently, his food forgotten, and I could sense the determination in his posture. In the distance I heard a sound of raucous laughter from the boys at the back of the room. I turned my head briefly and noticed for the first time they were all wearing yellow wristbands. Perhaps they were in some sort of school club.

Subaru was still looking at me expectantly. I took a deep breath.

_Too late to back out now…_

“About that magick trick of yours,” I said, affecting a smile. “With the green aura threads. It was very impressive.”

Subaru looked honestly taken aback. Color rose to his cheeks, and he stared emphatically out the window again as he attempted to hide his embarrassment.

“So you recognized it?” he said. His face was now the color of summer roses.

I smirked, making an indifferent gesture with my hands. “I’m a witch. We’re supposed to recognize these things.”

“You in the trade?” he asked, eyes flicking over me with an emotion I couldn’t quite place.

“My aunt was,” I said vaguely, “for a while. Before she, well…”

“Got zapped.”

“More or less.” I poked at my food with the edge of my chopsticks. “You learn that at school or something?”

“What _that_? Fuck no. They don’t teach _useful_ stuff there,” Subaru said, rolling his eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“So where—”

“I learned it from Dad,” he said, leaning back in his chair and taking a long drink from the sake cup.

_From Dad…_

Something went weird in my brain for a second. I tried to re-parse the sentence; it didn’t work.

“Your dad… as in, your _actual father_?” I asked. The notion of vampire parenthood was something that had never occurred to me. I mean _sure,_ I knew they had to come from _somewhere._ But I had never once thought I’d hear a vampire say the word ‘dad,’ at least not on purpose. It felt ridiculous, somehow.

“ _Obviously,_ ” he said, “what else could I mean? You humans not use that wording anymore?”

“ _No,_ I just— What do you mean by ‘anymore’?”

He shrugged. “I mean, I haven’t been around humans in a while, so…”

 “How long is ‘a while’?” I said, eying him.

Subaru gave me an odd look. “You _do_ know that I’m… sorta… _immortal_ , right?”

“Well I… I mean _yes,_ I figured…” I said, half embarrassed and not entirely sure why. “I just… you all look so _young,_ I just assumed you’d have to be… you know. Younger.”

Neither of us spoke for a bit. We just sat, staring at our hands, no one saying or doing much of anything. Subaru picked at his fish. I took a few slurps of soup. Then back to staring and silence.

“So,” Subaru said finally.

“So?” I asked.

“ _So_ ,” said Subaru, “how old do I look? Human-wise.”

I gave it a thought. “Seventeen?”

“ _No way,”_ he said, a campy grin plastered all over his face.

“What, is that so ridiculous?” I asked.

“There’s no way I look that young!” Subaru said. The typical gruffness in his tone was utterly offset by the brightness in his eyes. “You’re fucking with me.”

“Of course not!” I said, “You _definitely_ look seventeen. I would have guessed older because of the legal driving age, but something tells me the public safety commission doesn’t get to tell vampires what to do.”

Subaru laughed. “ _Fuck_ no! I’ve never even gotten a learner’s permit.”

 _That explains_ so _much._

“How long… I mean, how old—” I began.

“In the human calendar?” he said, “’Bout four hundred I guess.”

 _“About four—_ holy fuck.” I sat back in my chair and took a minute to process. Four hundred years ago…

“Sooo…. how was the Edo period?” I asked. Subaru smirked, then shrugged.

“I didn’t really get out much as a kid,” he said, “There _was_ a big fire once, though, just a few miles from our house—”

“ _The Great Fire of Meiriki???”_ I said, leaning across the table.

“Uh, maybe?” Subaru said, cheeks reddening as his brows knit together in concentration, “I remember a town being burnt down. There was a lot of fighting; I think some of the others were deciding whether to help. And… and my mom…” he seemed lost for a second. Then he looked back at me and, blush deepening, continued: “I was like, _twenty-four,_ okay? It’s not like I can remember.”

“Dude, I’m not _even_ twenty-four,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“You’re also not a toddler,” Subaru retorted.

“Ah, right,” I said, “ _Vampire genes.”_

“They’re a pain in the ass, _believe me,”_ Subaru said, winking at me. I blushed.

“I’ll take your word for it,” I said, a smile playing on my lips as Subaru started in once again on his food. His good humor was infectious.

It felt like an indulgence, to be suddenly so comfortable after weeks of tension and harsh treatment. As I watched Subaru continue to devour the meal as if it were his last, I slowly began to realize just how much he’d done for me an just how little reason he’d had to do it. From where he was sitting, I was nothing but a human witch who for all he knew could have been sent to kill his entire family. And yet he’d chosen to save me, given me clothes and a meal – and all for what? For pride? For selfishness? I was beginning to get the feeling neither of these things were capable of motivating a man like him.

Saving me was a choice. And that meant something, even if he’d never admit it.

“I wanted to thank you,” I said. Subaru looked up.

“What the fuck for?” he said through a mouthful of rice.

“For the meal,” I said, “And, you know. For saving me.”

Subaru stopped eating, a guilty blush spreading across his cheeks. It was honestly kind of cute.

“’S not like I had a choice,” he mumbled. “You landed right in front of me. What was I supposed to do, watch you bleed out?”

“You could have finished me off yourself,” I offered.

“Yeah…” Subaru said, pushing food around on his plate. For a moment it looked as though his thoughts were a million miles away.

_It didn’t even occur to you, did it?_

For a while neither of us spoke. I rubbed the side of my neck idly, the newly scarred skin feeling strange and uncomfortably tight. I dearly hoped it wouldn’t be the sight of a repeat performance; I wasn’t sure my neck could take any more.

_I’m going to have to be careful about this…_

“Shu fucked you up pretty bad, didn’t he?” Subaru said finally.

“Ah. Yeah,” I said, wincing. The memory of Shu doubled over, his jaw clenched tight with pain and lips dripping with my blood, was suddenly very palpable.. I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“He seemed…. Everything _seemed_ fine,” I said. My hands had curled themselves into fists where they lay on top of the table, and I was beginning to find it difficult to breathe. “Then he just… he just…” I shook my head. There were no words.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Subaru said quietly. He placed one of his hands gently over mine. The touch surprised me, but after a moment I curled my fingers around his and closed my eyes. I took a moment to breathe into the memory, dislodging it a bit from the knot it had formed in my insides, and opened them again.

“It _feels_ like it was my fault,” I said. Subaru shook his head.

“’S nothing you could have done,” he said. “Shu’s got problems. Has done for years. Drives Reiji up a fucking wall.”

“Is that why he calls him a deadbeat?” I asked.

Subaru laughed. “ _No,_ it’s because he sleeps twenty hours a day and doesn’t follow Reiji’s rules for shit.”

“ _Oh,_ well,” I said, regaining a little of my former ease, “I guess for Reiji that’s like a mortal sin.”

“ _No fucking kidding_ ,” Subaru said, rubbing his neck, “I swear, If I get poisoned again for skipping class, I’ll start breaking the _special_ tableware.”

“He’s really particular about that, isn’t he?” I asked.

“Oh you have no damn idea. Once when me and Kanato were—” Subaru cut himself off mid-sentence. He was suddenly staring intently over my shoulder.

“Subaru?” I said, “What’s wrong?”

He stood abruptly, fishing a handful of crumpled yen notes from his jacket pocket. He grabbed my arm forcefully, saying “We have to go.”

“Wait, what?” I said, alarmed. Subaru was hauling me up out of the seat, his face inscrutable, grabbing our bill as we went. “But I—”

“ _Now,”_ he hissed, dragging me away from the table. As we passed the managerial counter Subaru shoved our check and the handful of bills at the young host we’d passed on our way in, who now looked thoroughly incensed and more than a little confused. I tried to say something along the lines of a thank you, but before the first word had passed through my lips we were out the door.

We were halfway to the car when Subaru stopped short. His grip on my arm tightened, and I suddenly realized what had spooked him. Five people were standing in front of Subaru’s car, each one wearing a black uniform and identical yellow wrist bands -- the same five that had been drinking in the back of the restaurant just moments before. We hadn’t passed them on the way out, and even if the restaurant _had_ a back exit there certainly wasn’t time for them to have used it. Something told me they wouldn’t have needed to, anyway.

_Vampires._

Things were about to get a whole lot worse.


End file.
